Dimensional Rift (No pairing version)
by LegendaryGriffin
Summary: Ratchet and Clank get dragged into a dimensional hole which takes them to a knew world. Not only do they have to find a way home, but they have to deal with a curse and their alternate selves! This version does not include the slash pairing Ratchet x Lombax!Clank. :) yay! T for blood and swearing
1. Prologue

**This is a 'clean' version of my already existing R &C story Dimensional Rift. This version won't have any slash :) so yay!**

 **Storyline and some characters belong to me.**

 **Ratchet and Clank belong to Insomniac.**

 **Dimensional Rift: Prologue**

 **~Out With the Old and in With the New~**

Space is home to many things, from planets to stars, suns to moons and even the occasional black hole. Space is so vast, you more often than not will get lost, if you don't have the right equipment that is. Space can also be regarded as nothing, it is pretty much empty space after all; however, to one lombax, space is more than just nothing, it is home.

Ratchet belonged in amongst the stars, since he didn't have anywhere to call 'home' exactly. Seven years ago, he would have straight out said Veldin, but after his latest adventure to Polaris and the Great Clock, he didn't know where home was. Was it Fastoon? Veldin? Perhaps it was where he felt most comfortable? He didn't know, but that was alright with him. As long as he was with Clank and could travel wherever he wanted, he didn't mind.

"Ratchet!" a sudden yell stirred Ratchet from his thoughts as he snapped his gaze back to the path they were traveling. An incoming asteroid narrowly missed the ships left wing as Ratchet shifted the spacecraft's direction.

"Woah! Good thing my reflexes are top notch," he joked, turning to face his passenger who didn't look impressed.

"If you are going to stare out the window, at least set the controls to autopilot," replied an angry Clank, "what is bothering you? Usually you are not so… distant."

The lombax shrugged, keeping one hand on the controls and using the other to scratch nervously behind his head, "just thinking about stuff, nothing important."

The robot didn't look convinced but let the issue slide. He didn't want to start an argument after all. It had been a month since the Great Clock incident and it seemed life went on as it usually did. There was one difference though. Ratchet was more agitated and thoughtful, as if he was always on alert and thinking of best possible escape routes if they were ambushed. It didn't surprise Clank the least. He had been gone for three years while his friend searched all over Polaris to find him. Now whenever they left the ship, Ratchet would give sideways glances every now and then to make sure he was still there. He didn't bother to call him out on it though, it didn't bother him very much.

On the other hand, Ratchet was thinking the exact opposite. He knew Clank knew about his change in behaviour and decided to tell him once they landed.

"As soon as we get to Axiom City, we can get that upgrade and I'll tell you my thoughts. How's that?" he offered a smile, dodging another stray asteroid. The sentence surprised Clank as Ratchet was never one to outright admit something, but it in turn made the robot happy as well. Then another thought crossed Clank's mind.

"Wasn't Terachnos that planet we passed an hour ago?" he asked innocently. Ratchet's eyes widened and he briefly froze. He then let go of the controls and face planted on the control panel, clicking the 'Autopilot' button in the process.

"Oops…" was the lombax's reply. Clank 'rolled' his optical lenses and sighed.

"You really are unbelievable, Ratchet," he stated unamused. A groan was all the response Clank needed in order to know his friend was really tired and annoyed. There was silence after that for a few minutes. Then a loud crash of metal could be heard, causing the ship to swerve to the left.

"Argh! What was that? Aphelion? Shouldn't she have warned us?" Ratchet wandered aloud. That's when Clank pointed to the on 'Mute' button.

The lombax laughed sheepishly turning the mute option off.

'Warning! Warning! Dimensional breach detected. Power at 75%,' Aphelion reported much to the duo's dismay. Clank mumbled an incoherent 'great'.

"Dimensional what?! Aphelion, reroute power source to backup generator."

'Negative, backup generator empty. Power at 50%.'

"What! Fine, engage the thrusters to full power and turn around!"

'Negative, thrusters offline. Power at 20%.'

"Ratchet, the magnetic waves coming from the breach is messing Aphelion's controls up. We can't do anything!" Clank interrupted, but Ratchet was still trying.

'Transmission to Captain Qwark failed, please try again. Power at 10%.'

"… You tried calling Qwark…"

"What? I only have his and your contacts!" he defended while Clank face palmed.

'Power at 0%," were Aphelion's last words as the lights insidethe spacecraft blacked out as they were dragged into the breach.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 2 will be out as soon as I edit it :P**

 **Chapter 1: Expect the unexpected...**

* * *

After a few short minutes, Ratchet, Clank and Aphelion were hauled into a new world. The ship crashed, taking trees with it as it slid a good 50 metres before finally coming to a halt. Ratchet opened the cracked cockpit and jumped out, coughing from the smoke from the crash. After rubbing his eyes to clear his vision, he surveyed the new environment.

They had crashed in a forest of pine trees, which basically ripped apart Aphelion. The broken vehicle had damaged the forest as well though. Almost like an eye for an eye…

"Looks like the primary energy coil short circuited…" he said to himself before the right wing fell off, "and no wings, great." A sudden coughing entered his ears from the cockpit which was still emitting smoke. Wait… coughing? Last time he checked robots couldn't cough. They didn't have lungs!

"Clank? Is that you?" he asked, equipping his wrench and slowly making his way to the ship. His ears were met with no answer. He tried calling his best friend's name again but when that didn't work, he looked into the cockpit. Almost immediately, there was a scream and Ratchet fell backwards as a flash of grey bolted from the scene. Ratchet sat there dumbfounded. That must have been Clank, no doubt about it, but he screamed! Not the usual 'ahh', but a full on girl scream. That was new.

Ratchet stood up and ran to Aphelion, quickly opening the ship's main hatch and began to fiddle around with the various parts. After setting up the tracker and connecting it to his nav– unit, Ratchet closed the hatch, picked up his wrench which he had thrown when 'Clank' screamed and started running in the direction his friend went.

It was quite easy tracking Clank, since it looked as if he ripped every single branch along the way. He must have been really out of it to cause this much damage. That and the damage was unusually high.

"Clank? Where are you?!" he called, voice noticeably becoming more shaky with worry. He didn't want to lose his best pal again, not after those three painfully hard years without him.

"Clank! Come on pal, you can't have gone too far… woah!"he mumbled before tripping over something, landing on his face.

"Every… single… time…" he growled as he stood up and looked at the offender. Which was nothing. That didn't make sense, he knew he didn't trip himself over, he would have felt that. That's when he heard a sniff. Too quiet for anyone with average hearing to detect, but Ratchet didn't have ordinary hearing.

"Clank, is that you?" he asked the thick bush, reminding himself that if it wasn't Clank, he was talking to a shrub for no reason. That would be embarrassing.

"Ratchet…" responded a small voice. It sounded like Clank, except more fearful and upset. The lombax debated on whether or not he should coax him out or move the bush himself. He chose the first option as to not scare him.

"Are you alright? You had me worried there for a while, I thought you had run off and left me," he grinned, cracking a joke to lighten the mood. There was no reply.

"Clank, you can't hide forever. Now what's wrong?"

"…I don't know…"

"Come on, I can help!" he began to grow impatient.

"I'm not so sure about that…" Clank whimpered. His voice was muffled, as if he had buried his face into something.

"You won't know until I try."

Finally Clank admitted defeat and allowed Ratchet to see him. He moved the branches of the bush to clear his view of his friend and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his friend. It was definitely not something the lombax was expecting, at all. He looked like an exact copy of himself only he had silver fur with snow white stripes. His eyes a brilliant vibrant green in which Ratchet could not stop staring at. Clank was alombax.

"Wow, Clank… I mean… wow!" Ratchet had no words to describe this event. Clank a lombax? How is that even logically possible! Said lombax was becoming uncomfortable.

"Ahh, Ratchet? Is it that bad?" Clank's voice trembled as his head lowered and ears drooped. Ratchet began to panic.

"No, no, no! You look… great! More than great actually…" he tried nervously. Clank's ears lifted slightly.

"What… am I?" he asked quietly, confusing Ratchet.

"What do you mean pal?" he replied, head tilted to the side. Then it hit him. Clank hasn't seen himself yet!

"Well, I know I'm now an organic, but I don't know what race I am. I'm so confused… and tired…"

"Well, oddly enough, you're one of the best races in the universe, a lombax," Ratchet grinned, "and I see you're wearing my old Terraflux armour." Clank looked away in embarrassment.

"I needed something to wear! Besides, I rather like the design…" he shot back in defence.

Ratchet raised his hands in surrender, "I don't mind really. It's probably best you don't go around without any clothes on…"

Clank gave his best glare, "You are really not helping my situation here," he somewhat growled causing Ratchet to back off.

"Aright it's cool… anyway, why did you run off like that?"

"I…" Clank stumbled for words, "I guess I was just afraid…"

"Of what?"

"What do you think?! I've been turned into an organic! I don't know the first thing about living!"

Ratchet thought for a moment, "I can teach you, if you want. But not everything!"

Clank looked up to meet Ratchet's gaze, "thank you."

"Hey, what are pals for? C'mon, let's start moving," he said holding his hand out to help Clank up.

"Um, Ratchet? How do I… tell my body to move?"

"What are you talking about? You ran all the way here!" Ratchet said lowering his arm.

"I was scared! I didn't know what I was doing!" Clank quickly responded. Ratchet shrank back. Boy Clank could be scary himself…

"Just, think about it and make it happen. I don't know how to describe it!"

Clank obeyed and managed to use the tree he was leaning against as support to stand. Once upright, the grey lombax let go of the tree and glanced at Ratchet as if to ask 'what do I do now?'

"Just come to me. Don't worry, if you fall I will catch you," Ratchet reassured. The now turned lombax swallowed nervously and put one foot forward.

"Remember, your tail will help with balancing." Clank took a deep breath and walked forward a few steps. He began to smile when he made it just before Ratchet.

"See? Not that hard."

"This is all so new to me… I'm probably going to be a nuisance…" Said Clank looking down in shame. Ratchet awkwardly pat him on the head.

"Don't worry, once you learn how to hold a gun, we can get twice as much done!" The golden lombax said in an attempt to comfort Clank.

"Yeah… alright! Let's go, before nightfall." Ratchet's attempt seemed to have worked as Clank was now grinning like an idiot, causing himself to smile.

"One thing though…"

"Hmm?"

"Can you stay beside me? I don't want to fall…"

Ratchet's smile grew, "sure pal."

And with that, the duo continued to walk through the forest, unaware of the incoming storm.

"You know what I just realised? That technically your first word was 'Ratchet'"


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: A Light Through the Darkness**

* * *

"It's cold…"

"I know."

"I'm tired…"

"I know."

"I'm…," a rumble could be heard, "what was that!"

Ratchet lazily glanced at his best friend hugging his arm for dear life and sighed, "You're just hungry Clank." The storm had started soon after they left, however it was just chilling winds at the moment.

"Hungry? Why would I… Oh…" Clank realised, letting go of Ratchet. He immediately regretted his action as a gust of wind literally froze him in his tracks, causing his teeth to chatter.

"I'm c-cold Ratchet! When are we stopping?" he shivered, wrapping his arms tightly around himself.

"We need to find shelter, and from what I can see, there is none around here. So, we just keep on moving," Ratchet replied as he walked towards Clank and began leading him forwards.

Clank allowed him to, he was too cold and tired to go against anything anyway.

They eventually made it to a cliff that dropped into a valley where faint lights could be seen at the bottom a little ways off from where they were.

"Alright Clank, nearly there …Clank?" Ratchet turned around to see his friend lying on the ground curled up in a ball, tail tucked in between his legs.

"Dammit! Clank! You have to stay awake!"

"Too tired…"

"That doesn't matter, we have to get out of this wind before the rain hits! We will die if we don't!"

"Sorry Ratchet…" Clank apologised, leaving his friend to panic. Knowing the silver lombax wasn't going to move, Ratchet picked up his surprisingly light friend and looked over the cliff.

Ratchet knew they wouldn't be able to make it to the civilisation, so he looked for an alternative solution. It was then he realised the cliff had a cave system inside.

"Ok Clank, I'm going to jump and swingshot into the cave below us, so I need you to hang on really tight ok?"

When Ratchet was sure his friend wouldn't fall off, he leaped a good three metres off the cliff, using his hoverboots as extra thrust. He then engaged his swing shot, attaching it above the cavern and proceeded to swing inside. He landed heavily on his feet and walked to the far end of the cave. Already the temperature was warmer than outside.

Ratchet attempted to put Clank down but the silver lombax refused to let go.

"Clank, I need to be free now," he whispered to the nearly asleep Clank.

"No… too cold…"

"I'm going to ignite a fire and I need you to let go to do so," Ratchet's persuasion finally got Clank to release him. As soon as he did, Clank opened his eyes and watched his friend as he flicked through his inventory until he found his Incinerator.

The only problem was that he needed something to burn.

"I'll be right back, alright? I'm just going to find some materials worthy for a fire."

Clank nodded, "Don't take too long."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine!" Ratchet grinned before he left. Clank sighed.

"I always worry…"

It wasn't as if he didn't think Ratchet was capable, heck, after all their adventures, he wouldn't be surprised if Ratchet willingly got captured to make their adventures 'more interesting'. But it was the thought of that small chance that Ratchet would get too injured or die that worried him. He knew his friend would most likely scold him for worrying too much, but there was one thing that stuck in Clank's mind that he couldn't get rid of. The fact that Ratchet could die, while he would keep on 'living'. Well, before he became a lombax. Now both of them could feel pain which probably wasn't the best thing.

Thinking about his new appearance and body, Clank's mind began to wander about all the things he could do now that he was an organic. He could feel things physically and now had a stronger feeling of emotions, he could eat, and sleep and so much more than what he use to. Of course, the feeling of being cold wasn't something Clank enjoyed.

"I'm back fuzzbrain!" Ratchet yelled as he landed back in the cave… wet. Clank looked outside and it was indeed pouring. He was in so much thought that he didn't even notice it started raining.

"Fuzzbrain?"

"I can't call you bucket – head anymore so I'll just say fuzzbrain."

"I don't understand your logic," Clank replied unamused as he watched Ratchet materialise the sticks and wood from his inventory. It was a neat gadget that Clank thought was ingenious. They could store everything there and not have to worry about bags or other equipment that could get in the way.

When he finished setting up, Ratchet picked up his Incinerator and gave his stick pile a single, small blast of fire. Surprisingly nothing blew up. The weapon then vanished back into his inventory and Ratchet sat down next to Clank.

"So, where are we?" Clank asked, shifting over towards Ratchet until their shoulders touched.

Ratchet turned on his nav-unit's holo-screen to show Clank, "I don't know. There are no satellites above this planet so I can't scan our positions. All I get is this fuzzy image."

"What's that blinking light?"

"That's the tracker I installed into Aphelion so we can find our way back to the ship," Ratchet replied.

"I see, good idea," Clank praised his friend before letting out a big yawn, "I think I need to recharge now…"

"Well, while you get some rest, I'm going to try and dry off."

"Ok, see you in the morning…" Clank mumbled as he laid down on his side and curled himself into a ball again.

Ratchet looked down at Clank who was already asleep, "Night." He sat there looking out the entrance of the cave in worry, questions flowing through his mind. What happened to them? And what's more important, how were they going to get home? He looked back at Clank who had turned on his other side and frowned. This was his fault. If he had just focused on their objective and listened to Clank they would have been home by now watching TV or playing hologames…

He sighed in frustration, maybe they can ask those in the town if they know what happened to them. He didn't know if it would help them or not but it was worth a try at least.

Eventually, he managed to fall asleep, just before Clank started talking in his sleep.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Start of a New Adventure!**

* * *

As the first rays of the sun shone through the cave entrance, Clank awoke from his slumber for the first time. It had been pleasant, sleeping. He had thought when an organic shut down it was like recharging. In a way it was, but without all the images in his head.

He opened his eyes slowly, noticing his vision had become slightly blurry, and raised a hand to rub them.

"Good morning Clank! How was the nap?" Ratchet asked twitching his tail. Clank looked over at Ratchet and yawned.

"It was strange... Definitely not what I'm used to," Clank responded, "it's definitely better then recharging..."

Ratchet grinned, "well, you'll be experiencing a lot more new stuff now that you're a lombax."

"Yeah..." Clank said, "but I'm not sure if it's the best thing... Getting used to being an organic... Why don't we start heading towards the lights we saw last night?"

Ratchet thought about questioning what his friend meant but decided to ignore the matter for now.

"Alright, we might as well leave now then," Ratchet spoke determinedly.

He looked down over the valley, a small smile on his face, "Hey Clank! Wanna try that new gadget I made?" Clank stiffened and mentally screamed.

"Relax! I tested it out last week and I have removed all the kinks. I have even begun making you one as well," he boasted, knowing Clank's opinion on the matter.

"I, I don't think that's a good idea…"

"Come on, I spent last month trying to perfect this! I promise it works, don't you trust me?" Oh great, he pulled the trust card…

"Of course I do! But I can't save us if it malfunctions, as you can see, I no longer have the helipack," he hoped Ratchet would just agree for once… but then something unexpected happened. Ratchet pulled the most hurt expression, lowering his ears and dragging his tail as he walked back into the cave. Clank knew it was his cunning plan to make him agree but… even so, he hated seeing Ratchet's upset face.

"Fine… but if we fall, it's your fault and I will find a punishment for you," he knew exactly what, but he wouldn't say unless they did fall. He seriously hoped that wouldn't happen.

Almost immediately Ratchet leaped up and repositioned himself at the edge of the cave, "yes! C'mon, we don't have all day," he grinned and tapped a red circle on his chest, activating a pair of hakle leather wings specifically designed to attatch to his Hyperflux armor. They looked bat-like and the leather, originating from a hakle, was the strongest and lightest material in Polaris. Ratchet spent ages perfecting the shape, making sure they were streamlined and could be easily used.

There were two 'modes' the gadget had. The first was lock mode. Lock mode allowed the wearer to lock the wings in place while they could glide and use their arms to fire weapons or hold other things. The other mode is freeflight mode, where the wearer could insert their arms into the wings and fly like a bat or bird. This mode was great for escapes and traveling. Clank knew Ratchet perfected freeflight mode, but lock mode proved to be difficult to make faultless. Hopefully he was telling the truth about fixing it…

"Time to go Clank," Ratchet said, keeping the gadget on lock mode. He gestured for his pal to stand in front of him and Clank hesitantly complied. Without warning, Ratchet jumped, pushing them both into the air. Clank have a yell at the unexpected lack of solid ground under his feet. They were going faster than Ratchet anticipated, but he also had a backup plan. At least they would get there in no time. When he levelled off, he tried to pry Clank's death grip of himself.

"Clank, look! It's working!"

The silver lombax turned his head slowly around to look at the view. They were really high… Clank tried to look past the height issue and agreed to Ratchet's statement, "It… really is…"

"I told you I fixed it," was the smug reply Clank received. He rolled his eyes and surveyed the supposed town. One look and Clank knew something was wrong.

"Ratchet, the town is…"

"Destroyed," Ratchet finished, "I'm going to land now." He leaned back so the wings would catch the air and slow them down, however, since Clank was with him this time, it was a lot more difficult. When Ratchet felt Clank's grip tighten, he swung his feet forward and engaged his hoverboots. Once he had slowed down just enough, his feet met the ground.

"Whew, you aright pal?"

Clank opened his eyes and looked around, making sure they were definitely on the ground.

"My head is becoming sore…" he mumbled, "You know you can release me now…" Clank realised he had all his limbs enveloped tightly around Ratchet's torso and quickly let go.

"Sorry…" he apologised. Ratchet shook his head, an amused smile on his face, before looking at the entrance to the town.

There was a huge steel gate, or what remained of a gate, towering four metres high. The right side was completely gone, while the other was bent awkwardly in the centre, half off its hinges. Surrounding the town was a thick stone wall that had been broken in several places and covered in strange unnatural singe marks. Walking through the gate, the two lombaxes found themselves amongst old family homes and stores that had been completely demolished. Ratchet's ears drooped as it reminded him of Fastoon. Perhaps the same thing happened here. He saw Clank struggling to shove a large piece of debris and walked over to help.

"What are you doing?" he asked raising an eyebrow. Clank glanced at his friend while he gladly accepted the help.

"I saw something shiny down there, but the only way to get there is by going through this building."

"And the building is blocked by this piece of stone… Clank, I had no idea you were attracted to shiny things," Ratchet smirked and Clank gave him a shove.

"Just help me with this. It could be a clue to what happened here." Clank said irritated. Ratchet could be so annoying sometimes…

When the blockage was finally removed, Clank slowly made his way inside. It was a one story house made of stone with wooden floorboards. The roof was non-existent and half the ceiling was smashed. The furniture was in multiple pieces and scattered around the ruins of the building leading the grey lombax to believe some sort of creature had a rampage.

Clank shivered at the thought and continued to move through the house, Ratchet close behind. At the end of the hall was a doorway to the basement, the door snapped in half and on the floor. Clank walked forward to descend into the dark when Ratchet pulled him back.

"What are you…" Clank started before being silenced by the gold lombax pointing at the staircase.

"There are no top stairs fuzzbrain, look," he replied, "but there is a support beam to the right, you could use that."

Clank nodded and climbed down to the bottom, making sure he stayed close to the exit. A light flicked on from behind.

"I thought you might want to see," Ratchet said smugly, a torch in his left hand. He passed it to Clank and studied the walls.

Strange runes were painted onto the walls, some smudged and others faded. Ratchet raised his right hand to his chin in thought. After a minute of observing, Ratchet began to feel uneasy. Not to mention he now had a full on headache.

"Um, Ratchet…" Clank tried to get his friend's attention.

"What's wrong?" the golden lombax asked. His eyes widened as he turned towards the back wall. Scratched into the stone was a huge symbol, as if it was branding the building. The mark was of two claw scratches in an X shape, in its centre was a large hole which emitted a red hue.

"Someone was here last night, the scratches are rather new… but what does it mean?" Clank questioned. He saw Ratchet approach the wall, intensely starring at the hole.

Clank picked up the circular object he saw from the surface and felt a sudden chill, "I don't think we should stay here… Ratchet?" The lombax in question seemed to ignore his concerns and approached the symbol, slowly raising his arm to the hole. Clank became fearful at his friend's behaviour and stepped closer.

"Ratchet, can you hear me? I said we should leave!" he tried calling again. By now Ratchet was inserting his hand into the hole, completely entranced. Having enough, Clank grabbed his friend's arm and pulled him away from the wall.

"What's going on with- Ahh!" Clank backed away from the lombax in fear. The scream snapped Ratchet out of his strange behaviour and he shook his head in pain.

"Let's go, my headache seemed to have spread throughout my whole body…" he complained before he realised he was holding an object. It was a silver circle with a vibrant ruby in its centre. Looking at it seemed to worsen the pain so he threw it away and walked towards the stairs, beckoning Clank.

The silver lombax remained still except for his slight shaking and his eyes that followed Ratchet. He was leaning against the wall, arms wrapped around himself, praying that what he saw was an illusion.

"Hey pal, you coming?" when he didn't respond he walked back over, Clank visibly shying away, "Hey, what's up? Clank?" Both their eyes locked together, and Ratchet lowered his ears slightly. Clank was scared, no… terrified of something, and that made Ratchet feel nervous.

Meanwhile Clank was trying to spot something in his gaze. When he realised nothing was there, he relaxed and shook his head.

"I thought I saw something… never mind. Let's get the hell out of here!"

Ratchet frowned in uncertainty, but agreed with Clank's plan to leave. His headache was gone now, but the feeling of being watched lingered in the thick air.

When the duo emerged from the house, the eerie feeling of eyes watching them disappeared. Ratchet was more comfortable back on the surface; however, Clank still remained on edge.

"What exactly did you find down there?" Ratchet asked, glad his friend was acting more like himself again.

"This," he replied holding up a medallion with a chain attached to it. It was circular with the silhouette of two creatures that looked as if they were chasing each other's tails. One was textured like the moon while the other was like the sun. The two creatures, in a way, mimic yin and yang. The medallion was surrounded by gold and in its centre was a black gem that seemed to glow. Everything was scuffed except the gem.

"Sweet! What is it?" Ratchet questioned, holding the object closer to his face for inspection.

"It looks like some sort of sacred possession," replied Clank.

The golden lombax raised an eyebrow, "how do you know?"

"It's engraved on the back."

Ratchet flipped the medallion over and sure enough, words were scratched into the gold.

"'Safety beholds the wearer'? Heh, sounds religious," he smirked as he put the chain around his neck, "I'm safe now!"

Clank rolled his eyes and shook his head, "I saw some tracks heading towards the exit. Maybe those who had escaped are still around."

"They seemed to have been running away... Remember those scorch marks?"

"Yeah, those lights we saw last night must have been the fire. Whoever made that symbol must have been the culprit," Clank concluded "let's try and find the survivors before the malevolent creatures find us."

Ratchet agreed with his friend. The town only suffered this fate last night, meaning whoever did this would most likely be not far off. He could also tell that the creatures hold some sort of territorial grudge if they branded this place and tore it down. The only thing he didn't understand was why, and that was exactly what he was going to find out.


	5. Chapter 4

**Next chapter! Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I was busy with school stuff.**

 **Chapter 4: Misunderstandings**

* * *

Ratchet and Clank had left the town about an hour ago and they still hadn't found anything but trees and dirt. The tracks were becoming hard to find and it didn't help that the two lombaxes, Clank especially, were starving. They hadn't had food since lunch the day before and both of them were not taking it so well.

"Ratchet! I'm going to die if you don't fix this!" Clank groaned, practically being dragged by Ratchet through the shrubs.

"Shut up… There has to be some form of food somewhere…" Ratchet replied tightening his grip on Clank's foot, "you can walk too you know."

"How do you live like this? Having to refuel three times a day… robots can go on nothing but a power source! And you call this living."

"Well, usually we wouldn't be stuck on an abandoned planet with no signal or space ship. Just stop complaining or I will leave you behind."

Clank went quiet for a moment, "you wouldn't do that…"

"Oh really?" Ratchet turned around to give his friend a sly grin, "wanna find out?" Before Clank had the chance to reply, Ratchet pulled out a smoke screen bomb and set it off. He then dropped Clank's foot and disappeared. Clank tightly closed his eyes in an attempt to block out the smoke. When it cleared, his friend was nowhere to be seen.

"I should have seen that coming…" he scolded himself before rising to his feet, "Ratchet, stop being stupid and come out from where you're hiding!" No answer.

"Typical Ratchet, when I find you I'll… I'll… I'll do something that will make you regret leaving me here! Alone… with no weapon…" a twig snapped, "Ah! Or knowledge of fighting…" Clank began walking forward, glancing from side to side.

"Err, Ratchet? I know you're out there! I know you well enough to realise this is some sort of ridiculous prank," he muttered, "I hope…"

Two minuted had passed and Clank was now trembling. Surely Ratchet was kidding right? Although… he read somewhere that hunger can do weird things to organics. He continued to move, unconsciously tucking his tail between his legs.

By five minutes, Clank was terrified. The more he thought about his predicament, the more scared he became. He reached his limit when a voice spoke from behind.

"Clank? Are you Ok?"

"ARGH! GREAT ORVUS, LEAVE ME ALONE!" Clank screamed as he jumped high enough to grab a tree branch. He hugged it for dear life as Ratchet watched, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"It's me pal, it's Ratchet!" he said trying to calm his friend down. After hearing Ratchet's name, Clank opened his eyes and glared daggers down at him. The gold lombax took a step back from the tree and waved his hands in front of himself.

"It was just a joke Clank. Do you really think I would have just left you on your own?" Clank's face was the only answer he needed, "you really thought… oh boy. Clank, I am so sorry! I had no idea you would be this scared."

Clank dropped out of the tree and walked towards Ratchet angrily, "I have only been in this form for one night and I am still trying to cope! I have no idea of how to 'live' and I don't know what fear or being scared feels like! You should have thought about your actions before you did that, Ratchet!" his anger turned to sadness in a flash, "I'm just scared. Scared of this form, scared of this planet and its inhabitants… the only time I'm not scared is when you're around. I'm sorry I can't control my emotions, but I have no experience with living and-"

Clank was cut off by his friend embracing him tightly, "no, I should be sorry not you. You're right, I'm reckless and don't think before I act, but if there is one thing I do know, it's that I will always be here for you. Just know that I would never, ever leave you, alright?"

Clank hugged back and nodded into his shoulder, "I know… and I would also never leave you, Ratchet."

Ratchet pulled back from the hug, "I found something off the trail. I think it's a bunker of some sort," he said pointing in another direction. He had unintentionally found it when he was hiding from Clank.

Ratchet led his friend to the structure, being sure to keep him close by. All that was visible of the bunker was the huge iron door that had the same symbols on it as the basement did.

"Well, how are we going to get inside exactly?" the silver lombax questioned.

"I'm not sure pal. It looks as though there would be a button or something to trigger the door to open. I don't think anyone can enter by force."

Clank sighed, "If I was still a robot, I could scan it and find out how to open it," he mumbled under his breath."

"Aha! I found something!" Ratchet exclaimed, "Right there, it's a keyhole, and it looks like that thing you found back at the village fits it!"

Sure enough, the keyhole was circular and in its centre was a diamond hole that could fit the black gem. Before Ratchet could activate the door, Clank stopped him.

"I don't know about this… whoever is down there could be hostile. What if this bunker is actually a prison or dungeon?" Ratchet thought for a moment.

"Clank, if this medallion, or whatever, belonged to the civilians of that village than I seriously doubt it. They could be hostile towards us, but that would most likely be because they have never seen a lombax before. This race doesn't seem very advanced, let alone look as if they travel through space." Clank couldn't argue with his reasoning, but he still felt nervous about the idea.

"I'll tell you what, after we meet whoever lives here I can teach you how to work some of my weapons. That way you don't have to be so jumpy," the gold lombax said before inserting the medallion into the keyhole. Immediately, a bright purple light emitted from the medallion, spreading through the cracks of the metal door and powering it up. Slowly, the slab of metal sunk into the ground, allowing entrance to the lombaxes. Ratchet removed the medallion carefully and looked at the black gem in the centre. It was no longer its original colour, but a strong, glowing purple.

"Interesting… wanna go inside?" he asked his grey friend. Clank rolled his eyes and entered the bunker with Ratchet by his side. When they stepped through the entrance, the door closed behind them and torches which were on the walls turned on, leading them down a corridor.

"Well, only one way to go!" Ratchet said nervously as he began walking further in. Clank, who was staring at the door, turned to see the lombax leave without him.

"Wait for me!" he cried as he ran to resume his position by his friend's side. The two remained quiet for a while, the only sound being their shoes tapping the stone floor as they walked. That changed however when Clank yelped and froze.

"What happened?!" Ratchet asked quickly, whipping out his Combuster in defence.

"S-Someone… is watching us…" he whispered fretfully, "they touched my tail…" Ratchet pushed Clank behind him, taking a defensive position. That's when the torches went out.

"Whoever's there I order you to reveal yourself!" he growled, "answer me or I'll shoot!"

"You're not in any position to make demands furball, I can assure you that you will be dead before you fire your little gun," a deep, venomous voice hissed back. Ratchet heard several clicks, definitely the sound of weapons loading.

"Surely twelve against two is a rather unfair advantage to your side?" he tried to stall.

"Well, I hope you understand that we don't care about the equality of intruders, especially exiles like yourselves."

Ratchet was confused now. Exiles? Him? That's ridiculous! He only crashed on this planet the day before!

"This is all a big misunderstanding! We aren't from around here, we're from Polaris!" Clank squeaked out in an attempt to get on their good side.

"Polaris? Never heard of it. If this is some kind of idiotic joke, your punishments will be increased in severity tenfold!"

"We're not going to be 'punished' butt head, our ship crashed and now we're stranded on your planet. If you don't believe me, I can show you my ship."

"You really think we are idiots don't you? If we step out there we die! Besides, I know a trick when I see one… Lije, Lock them up!"

"Ratchet!" Clank yowled as he was forced down to the ground, arms cuffed behind his back. Ratchet turned around to see him get dragged into the darkness.

"Clank! Let him go!" he spat, firing his gun at any movement he saw… until his ammo ran out. Clank's eyes widened as one of the creature's raised a large metal bar over its head.

"Look out!" he tried to warn his friend but it was too late.

Ratchet felt something hard and dense smash down on the back of his head. He collapsed, instantly knocked out.

"That will teach you to make a fool out of me, runt," the creature growled. Its glowing amber eyes then turned to Clank who was still on the ground. The lombax grit his teeth and lowered his ears in fear.

"S-stay away!" he said attempting to break free of the chains. The creature huffed in disgust before grabbing Ratchet by the back of his armour and dragging the lombax further down the corridor.

"Do as we say and you won't suffer the fate of your acquaintance," the male creature hissed as he forced Clank to stand up. The silver lombax complied and allowed the creature to lead him, even if he was reluctant. They had put a blind fold over his eyes as well, most likely to hide the route to the entrance if he escaped. Clank hated the feeling of being useless. Ratchet fought tooth and claw to save him while he watched from the ground in fear, and he knew he could have at least send out a Groovitron since the Terraflux armour's inventory still had a few weapons and devices inside.

Clank suddenly felt his arms be released before he was shoved to the ground. The sound of metal screeching made him stand up and rip the blind fold off. That was when he saw his captor.

He looked similar to a lombax, only his ears were a lot shorter and he had a pair of feathered wings on his back. His fur was a deep maroon and he had bright red markings over his eyes and down his back. He was quite tall and looked like he had a lot of authority. His yellow cat-like eyes narrowed at Clank before he locked the cage door and walked off.

At least he knew why they were being called 'exiles'.


	6. Chapter 5

**I decided to upload today as well, since I didn't upload in a long time...**

 **Chapter 5: Similar But Different**

* * *

Ratchet opened his eyes slowly before slamming them shut. There apparently was a bright light above him and it was starting to tick him off. This time he tried to use his hands as a shield against the brightness, however, he couldn't seem to move them.

"What's going on…" he asked groggily, letting out a yawn.

"Discussion on your fate, exile," came a sharp reply.

"Hey, you sound like that butt head who attacked me…" Ratchet shot back. He was still unaware of his predicament, but he was having fun riling up whoever was speaking to him.

"That's it! I'll strangle you right now!" That was when Ratchet realised he was in captivity and he managed to force himself awake. With less than a second, he managed to assess his surroundings. He was chained to a chair at a metal table in a room without windows, a bright light hanging from the ceiling and three beings sitting in front of him. Just after his quick analysis, he saw an enraged lombax-like creature lunge right at him. Ratchet quickly retaliated and kicked the table so he would fall backwards. As the chair fell, he gained enough momentum to kick the attacker in the face, forcing him to fall over sideways.

Ratchet laid there for a moment, his eyes shut from the bright light, as he listened to the others in the room.

"He's so DEAD now!"

"Calm yourself, Kaari, he is defenceless," an annoyed male voice scolded.

"Defenceless? He used his environment against us, Slych! Next he will be using his chair as a weapon!"

"He's over reacting again…" the soft voice of a female sighed.

"Where's K'ara? She was supposed to be here fifteen minutes ago!"

Ratchet growled in irritation, "Can someone please tell me what's going on here?!" The three stopped bickering and looked towards the lombax lying down backwards on the ground in a chair. Kaari, who Ratchet believed was the dark grey one, walked towards him, grabbed the front of his armour and yanked him up. Now that he was sitting in the chair upright, he could see the others.

Kaari was dark grey furred, had amber eyes and was quite muscular. He was also the tallest in the room. He wore faded purple armour with a purple diamond shaped gem on his chest and the underneath of his muzzle was black.

The other male, whom he assumed was Slych, was pure black with red tips of his ears and tail. He had green eyes and wore a purple and black coat over simple black attire. He looked important as he stood with dignity.

The female was white, contrasting that of the others, and had bright blue eyes. Her wings were also noticeably larger and her fur was longer. She wore a really light lilac dress and looked as though she dyed the fur under her eyes and on her forehead purple. Seriously, what was with these creatures and purple?

It was the black creature who spoke first, "you have been caught entering our facility without authorisation and are now trialled for your crimes. An exile should know better than to return or try to join another resistance again."

"But I'm not an exile!"

"Shut up runt! Slych hasn't finished," Kaari growled in absolute hate. Despite wanting to mess with the larger more, Ratchet did as he was told, he definitely didn't want to end up in a fist fight with him.

"We have yet to decide on you and your associate's punishment, since the fourth member of the high council has not arrived yet," Slych continued slightly annoyed.

"Clank? Where is he!?"

"This… Clank… is currently locked up in one of our containment cells. Don't worry though, he is completely fine and has sustained no injuries," the female responded with a smile.

"Skye…" Kaari said in a low voice, "we are not to give this… mongrel any information!"

Skye huffed and turned her head away, "he at least deserves some reassurance Kaari. You can be so cold hearted at some times."

Ratchet visibly relaxed and uttered a 'whew'. No doubt his buddy was scared out of his mind…

That was when the door opened.

Clank paced back and forth in worry. What was he supposed to do? If he showed any sign of hostility they would no doubt 'subdue' him and any attempt to break free would involve a nice electric shock. He eventually decided that if Ratchet was still gone in the next few minutes he would try to break out.

"This looks cosy," a feminine voice shook him out of his thoughts. He looked through the bars at his visitor. She was pure black with a red stripe running from her forehead to her tail. Her eyes were blue and she wore some sort of black undercover attire.

"I've never seen an exile before… what's it like!" She asked enthusiastically.

"Well, you see… I'm not an exile…" Clank replied nervously. The creature flicked a perked up ear.

"What are you talking about? You sure look like one of us."

"Except for the lack of wings, different body structure and longer ears…"

"Hehe, if you're trying to make me free you, it's not going to happen. I'm old enough to know that an exile's wings are removed before they are drugged and taken at least twenty miles away… Must have been painful, I heard they de-wing while the subject is awake. You know, to stop them from returning." Clank looked horrified.

"That's so… cruel! How could you do that to your own kind?"

She turned her smile to a frown, "tell me your story then."

"What story? About how your kind ambushed us, injured my friend and locked us up?" Clank realised he was losing control of his anger and forced himself to calm down.

"No silly! The Rai Defence Force told everyone you intruded in an attempt to join us, but you deny you even belong amongst us. It doesn't make sense… so if you tell me your story, perhaps I can persuade my father to let you go…" Clank still had a lot of questions, but decided to obey the creature's demands first.

"Alright then. My friend and I were traveling through the Vela Sector to get to planet Terachnos when our ship lost all its power and was dragged into some… what did Aphelion call it… oh yes! Dimensional breach. We were then transported through some sort of black hole or worm hole and ended up crashing here," Clank began.

"You came from… another world?" the creature tilted her head to the side in confusion, "dad says our world is the only one. He says we are a part of an infinite landscape, but where we are is the safest zone. How can you have come from another world? Perhaps you were just from a faraway zone?"

Clank shook his head, "no, I don't even know what this planet's name is, let alone your kind."

"Planet? It that another name for the infinite landscape?"

"Well, if the infinite landscape is a planet, it wouldn't be infinite. You see, a planet is spherical and gravity keeps everything together, and since a planet is so big, you wouldn't notice its roundness."

The creature was intently staring at Clank, taking note of everything he said, "But you don't know if you're on a planet or not?"

"Well, alternate dimensions are foreign to me. I know they exist, but I have never been to one before… so no, I don't know if this truly is 'infinite' or a planet."

"Are dimensions different worlds? Argh, this is all so confusing… but I'm starting think you may be right," she concluded, "but you still haven't finished the story."

"What more is there to tell?" the grey lombax questioned.

"Why you were infiltrating our safe house?"

Clank sighed, "We were trying to find help. This place looked deserted, so when we found that village, we knew some type of species lived here. We then followed the tracks from the village to this bunker."

"I see… you have passed my test!"

"What test? Who are you?" Clank questioned. This creature was confusing him greatly and he hated that.

"You'll find out soon enough!" she sang as she flew off, out of Clank's sight.

Still not entirely convinced she was going to help him, the lombax sat down and thought about the strange encounter. One thing that scared him, was the fact that this race had no knowledge of space. If that was the case, getting back into their own universe would be harder than he thought, especially since Aphelion's technology was literally out of this world. They did seem to have technology based systems and weapons though…

This race utterly confused him.


	7. Chapter 6

**Alright! This chapter may seem rushed, but that's because I want to get onto the main plot of the story X** **3**

 **Chapter 6: Important Intel**

* * *

Ratchet jumped in his chair as another entity entered the room, seemingly bouncing with energy. If the slammed door wasn't what scared him, the female who practically shoved Kaari out of the way and was now speaking to Slych did.

"Dad! They aren't exiles! Remember when that strange fireball fell from the sky? That wasn't another attack, it was their ship!" she said ecstatically. The creature's father, seemingly overwhelmed by his daughter, put his hands on her shoulders to stop her fidgeting.

"What are you talking about?" he asked incredulously, "What is a ship?"

"I spoke to the other one, he told me what happened. I'm not quite sure what it is as well, but I'm sure they're telling the truth."

"You're saying that little furball is innocent?!" Kaari howled in disbelief before storming over to Slych's daughter, "Kumara! I refuse to believe your claim!"

Sych's ears folded back as he sent a glare at Kaari, "I will take care of this, Kaari." The larger huffed and turned away from Kumara, staring at Ratchet instead.

Slych walked over to Ratchet and crossed his arms in front of him, "how did you arrive here?"

Ratchet swallowed nervously and met the gaze of Slych, "I… uh… crash landed in my space ship. Since you don't know, a ship is something used to transport one through space. We were caught in some sort of black hole which took us here. Not sure exactly where here is though…"

Slych walked back over to where he was previously standing and picked up a number of papers that sat on the table. Ratchet watched him inquisitively as he tore the papers in two and then four before dropping them to the floor.

"I hereby dismiss you from being punished," he said formally, gesturing to Kaari to untie him, "and we welcome you to our safe house."

Begrudgingly, Kaari walked over and unshackled Ratchet roughly. Once free, the lombax stood up and rubbed his left arm from where the chains were beginning to hurt him.

"Uh, I don't understand," he said dumbly. Slych walked to the door and unlocked it.

"K'ara will explain a few things, and perhaps you can help us," he replied simply before leaving, Kaari and Skye following closely behind.

"Hi! I'm Kumara, but you can call me K'ara as well," the black and red creature introduced herself, holding out her hand.

"Ratchet," he replied simply, giving Kumara a handshake. She grinned and ran out the door, pulling Ratchet along with her.

"Woah! Calm down, it's not like I'm going to run away!" he said as he tried to yank his hand out of her grip. When he finally did, they were already at their destination.

"Ratchet!" came an excited voice from within the bars of a cell. The gold lombax's ears perked up as he ran up to Clank.

"Hey there pal! How're you hanging?" Ratchet asked innocently. Noticing the humour in his voice, Clank rolled his eyes in exasperation. When was he going to take things seriously?

"Does this mean we're free to go?" Clank asked hopefully, watching Kumara disable the electric barrier.

"I assume so. I'm going to ask about borrowing some materials for repairing Aphelion, plus I'm hungry…"

Kumara opened the cell door and raced back over to them both, "you can follow me to the dining hall and I can explain a few things while you organise yourselves."

Ratchet and Clank looked at each other and grinned. This was perfect! Once they got the necessities they needed, they could be on their way home… hopefully.

"Alright then, Kumara, lead the way!" Ratchet said, perking up. The creature smiled and lead them down the prison hallway, when Clank spotted something familiar.

"What is that medallion for?" he asked, pointing at the object around her neck.

"Oh, this is to help prevent or get rid of the curse. The attackers brought the curse here and this is the only thing that can break it."

"Who are these attackers? Have you seen them?" Clank questioned her.

"They come from the sky and destroy our homes. I've only seen them once, when they attacked my old village, and even then they were wearing armour that covered their whole body. They asked us to surrender or prepare for the consequences and my dad continued to fight them. They come and go on a regular basis. Yesterday they destroyed that village you saw."

Ratchet's expression softened as he quickly removed the medallion from his inventory and held it out, "we found this in that village."

"Everyone has one, I'm not surprised you found it. Anyway, come along, we can't stand here all day."

They eventually came to a large circular room with three other doorways evenly spaced apart. In the centre of the room was what looked like an elevator which was made out of glass. Ratchet had realised that if the floor, walls and ceiling weren't just stone, it would have looked like the room in which he defeated Vorselon three times. He shuddered slightly at the thought of the head.

After the short journey to the next floor, Kumara explained the basic layout of the base.

"This is the main floor. It's basically where everyone eats, seeps, trains and hang out. This floor is divided into four sections, the living quarters, training grounds, meeting room and dining hall."

From where they waked out of the lift, the living quarters were to the left while the other three areas were to the right. Ratchet also noted that the entrance tunnel began in front of the elevator.

Kumara lead them to the right first, stopping at a large circular stone room containing a long spiral table in which took up most of the room. To the left, embedded into the wall, was a bar and a food storage room was clearly visible behind the bar. Aside from that, and a few creatures, the room looked fairly empty.

"The dining hall is where we all meet up with friends and eat. Plus, this is one of the only rooms where everyone is permitted. You see, the training grounds are only accessible to those who are becoming part of the Ria Defence Force or want to become a scout, like me, and the meeting room is restricted until there is an important get together. The living quarters are also free to hang out in, but the rooms are quite small and not everyone can fit into one. Living in a small bunker tends to make you become friends with everyone."

After Kumara left the two to grab their food, Ratchet began guessing why Clank had turned from being a robot into a lombax.

"I know it wasn't a coincidence, so I theorise that the black hole must have caused a mutation of some sort, using my DNA as its base."

Clank stared at his friend questioningly, "perhaps… I can't find any logical reason for this anomaly."

Ratchet smiled, "You excited for the next stage in being an organic?" Clank thought about his response before answering.

"I guess I am interested to understand why you enjoy meal times so much, since you always go on about how much you miss real food after our big adventures…"

"Well, you wouldn't enjoy surviving off tasteless energy bars… seriously, they're horrible," Ratchet made a gag noise to prove his distaste. That's when Kumara returned, handing them a bag full of various fruits.

"These will last a while, since I know you're travelling back to your ship thing," she said, "now I can explain some stuff. We are a race called Niffrin's and we have been reduced drastically to a few small resistances around this area by the attackers. I've been studying a lot on when the attacks first began, and I found out that my father had a conference with the leader when they first arrived. Apparently they wanted us to surrender our home and resources, and when we refused, they marked our land with curses."

"I don't believe curses exist ma'am. They are things of fantasy and myth, but may I ask what these 'curses' do?" Clank asked. Ratchet could tell that his friend was deeply interested.

Kumara hesitantly explained, "They confuse ones brain into thinking everyone are enemies and the host begins attacking others for no reason. It's horrible… and the only things that can prevent them are these gems," she held up her medallion, the purple gem glowing brightly.

"If one is exposed to a curse the medallion will only subdue it, not get rid of it. So, we have resorted to kill the host, humanely of course. Just don't go near the attackers' mark, that's where they reside," she finished.

Realisation flooded through Clank's mind as he recalled their encounter with the mark. Something terrible happened in that basement, and all the lombax could think about was Ratchet's hollow, fear inducing gaze. He shook his head to clear it, determined not to reveal the information in front of Kumara.

Ratchet was about to comment on his friend's odd behaviour when Slych ran into the room, four others behind him.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have just been informed that the attackers are planning to take your ship thing. I believe they think it's one of their own," the leader of the niffrin's stated as one of the Rai Defence Force commanders approached the table.

"Our scout crew saw them studying your ship so we conducted a spy mission to find out what they were up to. It turns out they're sending in one of their own transportation vessels to secure yours," he said formally.

Ratchet stood up quickly, as did Clank soon after, and began heading towards the exit. Before he got far, Slych intercepted his path.

"I warn you, they have no humanity at all. Don't underestimate them, and better yet, don't engage battle with them," he said in a low, almost threatening tone. Ratchet didn't even flinch, but nodded in understanding before waving Clank over.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they have no chance against me, but I'll take your advice. C'mon Clank, it's time to get out of here!" Clank rolled his eyes at the golden lombax's attitude and waved goodbye to the niffrin's.

"We will do our best to stop them from invading," was the last thing said as the two lombaxes ran for the exit… not before Ratchet returned to grab the bag of fruits.

* * *

 **If you have any questions about anything in relation to the story, I would be happy to give an explanation :3**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Interesting Encounter**

* * *

Breathing in fresh air felt like heaven compared to the dark, damp bunker's thick aroma of hell, and Clank never thought he would be so happy to smell nothing. The feeling was short lived, however, when Ratchet grabbed his wrist and practically dragged the grey lombax in the direction of Aphelion.

"I can walk on my own you know…" he growled in discomfort.

"Clank, our only way off this planet is currently in the process of being stolen, so quit complaining and hurry up," came the annoyed reply of Ratchet. He didn't mean to come off as harsh, but the thought of someone stealing _his_ Aphelion drove him mad and Ratchet had a hard time concealing his anger.

They soon came to the burnt down village's gate and the duo looked towards the cliff they came from. Ratchet immediately recognised the cave they stayed the night in and began running towards it. He stopped a few seconds later when he came to a clearing in the forest.

"Alright, the quickest way from here to up there is by flying, so unless you have any better ideas, we're using the flight gadget."

Clank flicked through his mind for any alternate solutions. When he found none, his shoulders and ears drooped.

"Why does this always happen to me…" he muttered to himself, loud enough for the other to hear.

Ratchet grinned, "I won't be able to hold onto you this time since I need to use my arms for freeflight mode, so you have to hold on by yourself."

"You are not helping the situation at all," Clank deadpanned.

"You'll have to hang on my back for this to work as well… It'll be just like old times!" Ratchet tried reasoning,

"It will definitely not be 'like old times'. I can't just attach myself to your armour like this!"

Ratchet began to shut away the humour of the conversation and activated the wings, "Clank, now's not the time for this. We're screwed if they steal our ship."

The grey lombax sighed but didn't argue. He knew Ratchet was right, and like it or not, the only way up the cliff was the flight gadget.

Clank slowly made his way over to Ratchet, stopping right behind him.

"Please don't make this awkward… just hop on and we can go. The sooner we're in the air, the sooner you can get off," Ratchet said, inserting his arms into the wings. Once he was ready, he awaited for Clank to get on.

Said lombax complied, wrapping his arms around his friend's neck and closing his eyes tightly, "ready…"

Ratchet took that as his cue, engaging his hoverboots to full acceleration and using the wings to gain height. He was surprised when the extra thrust sped them upwards, since he was carrying Clank, but his friend seemed to be lighter than a feather… That kind of concerned him. But nonetheless, the extra speed meant they would arrive at their destination sooner. That didn't stop Ratchet from commenting on it though.

"Jeez Clank… I'm going to have to feed you heaps when we get home, you weigh practically nothing!" Clank opened his eyes in surprise before sending a glare at the back of Ratchet's head.

"W-well, it doesn't help that I have _never digested food in my short organic life!"_ he shot back defensively.

"Calm your fur fuzzbrain, I was merely stating that you're lighter than I thought you would be, nothing to get your tail in a knot over," Ratchet replied before shouting, "We're nearly at Aphelion, so I'm going to land now!"

Ratchet used the same technique as earlier to land, spreading the wings as far as they could go and using the hoverboots to further slow them down. Like last time, it was a great success.

Clank let go of Ratchet, happy to be firmly on the ground again. He still hated the thought of plummeting to their death, but he started to enjoy flying with Ratchet for some unknown reason. He was about to tell his friend his thoughts when he was suddenly shoved behind some bushes.

"What are you-" Clank attempted to ask, when Ratchet put his hand over his muzzle and gestured to something in front. Clank tilted his head and raised an eyebrow in confusion. In minor annoyance, Ratchet cleared a branch blocking their view, removed his hand from Clank's muzzle and allowed him to look through the leaves.

It seemed they had arrived just in time, as their ship was currently being pushed into a larger, more sophisticated spacecraft. It looked similar to Aphelion, only the bottom opened to form a ramp and the wings were long and curved backwards. It was also a striking red with yellow streaks and symbols, which were recognisably lombax. That puzzled Ratchet momentarily until he saw _who_ was stealing his ship. The creature had _very_ similar body structure to a lombax, the tail and ears being the most noticeable; however, he couldn't be sure since it was wearing armour. Modified _Trillium_ armour.

Ratchet stood to leave their hiding place, but Clank grabbed his friend's wrist and pulled him back to cover.

"Are you nuts?! Remember what Slych said? He said they were heartless and we should stay away from them! I know what you're thinking, but we don't know what they are capable of, and I don't want you to get injured…" the grey lombax half whispered, half shouted. Ratchet turned to Clank in confusion.

"You're never worried when I rush into battle. Usually you're more… confident in my abilities. Why would now be any different?"

Clank stumbled for words, "Well… I have always been worried about you. Every battle, whether it be one of Nefarious's troops or Dr. Nefarious himself… But, it's different now. I can't watch your back like I used to. Heck, I can't even _be_ useful to you, considering I can't use a weapon and no longer have useful functions… I'm just, nothing…"

"Don't you ever say that again…" Ratchet growled, "You will _never_ be nothing and don't you ever tell yourself that! Clank… just because you can't fight yet, doesn't mean you're nothing. Whenever I fight, I think of you. You help me continue fighting, even when it seems the odds are against us. I just don't like the thought of letting you down… I can train you to become an awesome butt kicking lombax, but until then, just be there for me alright? I fight ten times better when you're around."

The grey lombax nodded, "you'll train me soon though… right?"

"Yeah, as soon as we-OH MY GOSH! They're closing the ramp!" Ratchet exclaimed as he picked up Clank bridal style and engaged his hoverboots. Luckily, all the creatures had retreated to the ship, leaving the duo an easy route to the loading bay without being seen.

Ratchet managed to get himself and Clank inside the larger spacecraft just before the ramp closed, but they were far from safe.

There were three 'attackers' standing in front of Aphelion, each wearing the modified Trillium armour. How did he know they were modified? Easy. They _glowed_ with energy. The three were talking to a figure on a holo-screen.

Ratchet and Clank hid behind Aphelion and listened to the conversation.

"Sir, we have obtained the ship from Niffiria, although, we still have yet to identify if it's one of ours or not. Does the signature 3371-Alpha show up on the data base?" one said.

There was silence on the other side for a few moments before the figure spoke, "That's impossible, 3371-Alpha no longer exists! Bring the ship to me, and if I find out that you're lying… Well, you know what will happen…"

"Yes sir! We're returning to the Breegus System now," the holo-screen then turned off, "let's get back to the control room."

Ratchet watched them leave, and when they were finally out of sight, he walked around the side of his ship and brought his hand up to his chin in thought.

"Strange… all ships have a unique signature, so there is no way there are two 3371-Alpha's…" he said to himself, "but that guy on the holo-screen seemed pretty surprised…"

"Ratchet! Didn't you hear? We're still in Polaris! Maybe that dimensional breach was just an abnormal wormhole," Clank excitedly whipped his tail back and forth, "we can go home now!"

"We still have to fix her," Ratchet smiled at his friend's behaviour, "but I can't find anything in here that we can use. I can reattach the wing easily, but how am I going to find enough power to jumpstart the primary energy coil?"

Clank studied the room they were in. It had a few control stations for lowering the ramp, an elevator to the side and two huge clamps attached to Aphelion so the ship would stay in one place. Nothing that could be useful to them.

"Well, we can always steal this ship," Ratchet suggested, a sly grin on his face.

"And how do you propose we do that? Knock out all the _lombaxes_ and turn off the tracking signal before flying through Polaris in a _huge_ _illegal stolen rebel ship?"_ Clank shook his head in disapproval, "No way will that end well…"

"Hey, it's not impossible! I can make it work! Besides, we have no other choice. Would you rather be arrested by galactic authorities? Or be captured by these dudes?"

"…good point… but I'm still not entirely convinced it's the best way to go…"

When Ratchet was about to reply, the ship swerved to the left and explosions could be heard from outside. The sudden movement caused the two lombaxes to fall onto Aphelion.

"Ow… you Ok pal?" Ratchet asked as he rubbed his now aching head.

"I think so," Clank responded, "but what was that? Is the ship under attack?" Ratchet pointed to a large dent on the left side of the ship.

"I'm guessing that's a 'yes'."

Explosions continued to sound as missiles, lasers and shooters pierced the outer ship

Then the whole room flashed red with a blaring siren accompanied by a feminine voice saying, 'Warning! Enemy ships detected.' Ratchet manually opened Aphelion's cockpit.

"It'll be safer inside, unless you want to float away in the empty vacuum of space," Ratchet said as he pushed Clank into the ship along with himself.

"But even if that happens, we will still be trapped in here until someone rescues us," Clank's logical side kicked in once again, "and that could take forever!"

Ratchet shrugged, "stop thinking of worst case scenarios. We'll be fine as long as the ship doesn't explode."

Clank stared at him in annoyance, "I really do not know how you survived all those years without me."

The gold lombax smiled and rolled his eyes. Clank could be so serious sometimes… That's when the ramp lowered and four lombax ships, landed beside his own. His heart jumped at the thought of Clank's prediction of drifting through space coming true, but calmed himself as he realised Aphelion was secured in place. When the ramp closed and the room was breathable again, seven lombaxes exited their ships. Ratchet was so glad his ship's window was only see through on the inside…

"Alright everyone! You know what needs to be done. You four handle subduing the enemy, while you two hack into the communications and tracking grid, we need as much information as possible! I'll remain here, in case they send reinforcements," the lombax who seemed to be the leader instructed the group. They all nodded before heading to the control room.

Ratchet smooshed his face against the reinforced glass to get a better look at the leader. He was around his height, perhaps taller, and held a wrench similar to the Omniwrench 8000. His fur was a bright yellow, while the stripes on his ears and cheeks were orange, freakishly similar to Ratchet's own fur.

"Oh my God! This is amazing!" Clank practically yelled, causing Ratchet to yelp. He looked over his shoulder at his friend who was devouring the fruits the Niffrin's gave them, a look of satisfaction on his face.

"Clank! Those were for me too you know!" Ratchet growled in disbelief, "and we're supposed to be hiding, not eating."

"Yeah, well… I…" Clank struggled to find his words, "I was hungry."

"Yeah, I can see that! How many are left?"

"…umm… two?" he grinned sheepishly. Ratchet face palmed and shook his head while Clank awkwardly scratched the back of his head. The two had completely forgotten their predicament until a few seconds later when they were both ejected out of Aphelion. It was a weak ejection, but it still hurt like hell on the landing.

"Ow…" stated Ratchet who was lying underneath Clank. The grey lombax dizzily raised his head from Ratchet's chest.

"Why is the world spinning..? Does this happen to organics often?" he asked, trying to find which Ratchet was the real one.

"Just… get off so I can move please?"

"Shut your traps and get up! Both of you!" a voice ordered and Ratchet immediately sat up wide eyed. The sudden movement made Clank fall backwards ungracefully. If this had been another time, Ratchet would have thought his fall looked quite humorous.

Ratchet slowly got to his feet before helping his friend up who could finally see clearly. The elder lombax in front of the duo had a very stern expression, and he was mainly staring at Clank. The grey one felt uncomfortable, shrinking back to hide behind Ratchet who was standing defensively.

"Who are you and who do you work for?" he asked, eyes narrowed as he observed the two. Ratchet didn't respond right away, as he was too busy trying to figure out a certain suspicion of his, so Clank answered for him.

"W-we work for no one sir…" he mumbled quietly, "We're kind of like explorers, or travellers, who save galaxies." The older lombax raised an eyebrow and scoffed.

"Yeah, right… I think I would have known if two underage lombaxes 'saved galaxies' together."

"We're telling you the truth!" Ratchet shot back in annoyance, "and what do you mean by underage?"

He looked irritated as well, "You're way too young to be in any type of defence force, let alone fight on your own, and no offence but… you both look pretty scrawny."

Ratchet growled. He hated it when others judged him before they knew him, but he had to admit, he did look thin for someone who defeated Tachyon and Dr. Nefarious.

"He could defeat you if he wanted to," Clank said, a proud smile on his face, "he's more than capable of taking out everyone on board." Before the elder could respond, Ratchet intervened.

"Look, we don't want any trouble, we just want our ship back," Ratchet said gesturing to Aphelion, "but I could totally beat your butt into space."

The older lombax ignored Ratchet's last comment and took a closer look at the spacecraft, "This can't be… she was blown up years ago… How did you acquire this ship?"

"Uhh, I found her on Fastoon? Look… guy… we really need to get back home and-"

"Where's your license?"

"Beg your pardon?" Ratchet began fidgeting uneasily.

"Your license. If this ship is indeed from Fastoon and you two aren't involved in this war, then I can let you go… _if_ you show me your license. I may even give you a ride to the planet to repair her."

"License… uhh… Here it is!" he replied, pulling out an ID of… Qwark? The older lombax stared dumbly at the face of the intergalactic superhero.

"Seriously Ratchet…" Clank huffed.

"Qwark gave it to me! I trained to pilot a ship with him, and he gave me this ID. I didn't have enough bolts for a real one…" Ratchet tried fibbing his way out of the situation. It didn't seem to be working.

"So… you stole this ship?"

"What..? No! I fixed her and then she just decided to become mine. I am- _was_ the last lombax… Not anymore I see…" Ratchet then realised something, "oh yeah! Why are there so many lombaxes now? I thought you all fled from Polaris because of Tachyon in the Great War?"

The elder lombax was thoroughly confused, "the only war that's ever happened is this one, and Tachyon is helping the C.A.L.R. invent new technology."

At that moment, Ratchet felt uneasy. Tachyon… was alive? And not only that, he was helping the Centre for Advanced Lombax Research? He nervously tapped Clank on the shoulder.

"Heh-heh… Clank, I need to speak with you privately for a second…" The grey lombax, seemingly knowing what the issue was, nodded and followed his friend to a corner of the room. The elder didn't seem to mind, although he watched them from afar just to make sure they weren't planning something.

"Clank… I don't think we're in Polaris anymore… our Polaris anyway…" Ratchet began, "That rift we went through… I think it took us to some sort of alternate reality."

"I believe you may be right. The date seems to have remained the same, so that rules out that we travelled back in time. I still don't have any idea of how this happened though," Clank replied inquisitively, "This is very peculiar…"

"Well, do you think it has anything to do with the Clock?"

"I don't think so. The Clock has nothing to do with dimensions, only time. And even if it did play some role in this anomaly, Sigmund would have contacted us."

Ratchet sighed, "Alright, we'll figure this out later. Right now we need to concentrate on getting off this ship with Aphelion, and I think I have an idea…"


	9. Chapter 8

**Hello again! It's been a while, I know, and I am so sorry! Assignments and school work were at their peak and all hell was breaking loose! But I'm back now! (Yay!) I would just like to thank everyone who has commented, favourited or watched this story as it means a lot to me ^^. Although I won't be stopping this story, I find when people comment I tend to write faster and have more motivation because I know people are waiting for the next chapter :)**

 **Chapter 8: You're My Father?!**

* * *

"Sorry, we had to discus some important matters…" Ratchet began, "Hey, I was wondering… how old do you have to be in order to become a lombax warrior?"

The question shocked the elder, but he answered nonetheless, "The minimum age is 30 Fastoon years, it is illegal otherwise."

"I see… I don't know much about them, but I know you're not wearing the required Trillium Armour," Ratchet continued, "why is that?"

The lombax reluctantly gave him a response, "I'm filling in for a friend. He couldn't make it on today's mission so he asked me to take his place. Usually I would be supervising the C.A.L.R." Ratchet nodded in understanding. Now that he had made small talk with the leader, he decided to move on to phase two of his plan.

"Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I really don't want to make an enemy of you. I'm not used to being in the presence of other lombaxes, other than my friend here of course, and I want to learn more about my race. I was hoping you could take us to Fastoon even though we don't technically have licenses…"

The elder thought deeply about the request. It wasn't often that these circumstances happened, so it was quite difficult to decide on what to do. There was always a chance they could be spies of the enemy, but they could also be innocent civilians. It would be wrong to leave them if they were telling the truth, so he decided to take them back to Fastoon.

"Alright, you can come," he said simply, adding a smile for good measure. Ratchet and Clank turned to each other in surprise before grinning wildly.

"Yes! I mean… thanks! I'm Ratchet by the way, and this is Clank."

The elder tilted his head to the side, "Those are strange names…" he said as he held out his hand for a handshake, "I'm Kaden."

Ratchet shook hands with Kaden before freezing as he said his name. Clank quickly spoke up, diverting the elder's attention to himself.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Kaden, and thank you for allowing us to come with you."

Kaden eyed Ratchet with suspicion but shook it off as Clank thanked him, "No problem. We will be taking this whole ship back to Fastoon anyway, so you would have been coming with me whether you wanted to or not."

"Why do you want to bring it back?" Clank asked.

"Because there could be important information stored in the ship's database that could aid us in the war. That, and we need to know if their technology is changing, otherwise they could be advancing before us."

"That makes sense… but who is the enemy?"

"We don't know. He began attacking seven years ago, stealing our warriors and forcing them against us… No reason has been given, but he claims that we deserve to die."

Then a loud thud alerted the two, signifying that Ratchet had fainted. Clank, knowing the reason why, nervously scratched the back of his head.

"He hasn't eaten or drunk anything since yesterday morning…" he tried lying.

As Kaden was about to respond, a lombax warrior ran towards the three.

"Mission accomplished! …What's going on here?" he questioned in confusion. Kaden began explaining the situation with the least amount of detail as possible and told him to wait in the control room.

Meanwhile, Clank was trying to figure out how to wake the unconscious lombax. He kneeled down beside Ratchet and poked him in the head repeatedly.

"Ratchet... Ratchet~… Ratchet!" when calling his name didn't work, Clank decided to play an old recording of Qwark testing his personal Hygenator. He used to do this all the time in order to wake the lombax from his sleep.

" _Do you have a problem with unwanted hair? Is painful itching in your nether regions causing you undue embarrassment? Do you just plain stink? Then you need this! The Gadgetron Personal Hygenator!"_

As the advertisement continued, Ratchet began moving around uncomfortably until he sat up, screamed 'Son of a Qwark!' and threw the recording device at a wall.

Clank couldn't hold his laughter and began rolling around on the floor hysterically. The other two lombaxes had since long ago stopped talking and were staring at a very distraught Ratchet.

"I can't believe you! I thought I told you to not do that again!"

"Haha, I'm sorry! But, oh how I've missed your reactions!"

Ratchet crossed his arms and looked to the side, "you have no idea of the images that it puts in my mind…"

Clank tried his best to stop laughing, "I can only imagine…"

"No, you really can't, and if you could, you would regret your actions…"

Kaden awkwardly coughed to get their attention, "We're heading up to the control room now. If you would like to join us you can, just don't get in the way." Clank helped Ratchet to his feet.

"No worries sir, you won't even know we're there," the grey lombax replied.

Kaden turned to the elevator, muttering, "I sincerely doubt it," while Ratchet and Clank followed closely behind. When the four were in the lift, Kaden began instructing them to remain quiet and still while in the control room.

Clank did most of the talking, since Ratchet was still trying to process the fact that his father was in front of him, which gave him a lot of time to think about it. He still didn't know how to handle the information, but he tried keeping it together.

What was eating him away was that he couldn't say 'you're my father' or 'I'm your long lost son' because in truth, he wasn't. Ratchet's dad was dead, but the Ratchet in this world had a father, the one standing in front of him. The problem was, he really wanted to tell him, but didn't know how to. That, and he didn't know if there would be any consequences in his actions.

"Ratchet?" Clank interrupted his thoughts.

"Yeah pal?" Ratchet responded and his friend pointed at the opened doors, "oh right…"

"Ratchet… do you want to talk about it? About Kaden? He's currently taking to the other lombaxes, so we have some time to ourselves."

"Yeah, Ok…" The two found a spot at the back of the room, away from the others, and sat down against the wall.

"Clank, how am I supposed to deal with this? I can't stand knowing and not telling," he began, lowering his ears.

"I will say now that if you _do_ decide to tell him I won't interfere, but, remember to include the alternate reality thing. It's not right claiming to be someone else… even if that someone else is technically you."

"So, you don't think it will have massive consequences?"

"I didn't say that. I do believe something bad will come from it, but I also know how much this means to you. And after all that you have done for the universe, I believe you deserve to have at least some experience with your family."

Ratchet pulled his friend into a tight embrace. He was incredibly fortunate to have Clank as his friend, as he didn't know anyone who was as caring, smart and understanding as him. Ratchet didn't even realise that he had started purring until Clank called him out on it.

"Ratchet, why are you vibrating again?" he asked innocently, causing the gold lombax to pull back slightly.

"W-what are you talking about?" Ratchet said nervously.

"You were doing that thing again where you vibrate and sound like some sort of motor. Why do you keep avoiding the question?"

Ratchet knew there was no way out of the dreaded question this time so he unwillingly answered, "You see… err, when a lombax is happy, comfortable or enjoying something, we tend to purr, even if we don't realise it."

"Interesting… so why did you try and avoid the question if that's all it was?"

"Uhh… because it's embarrassing…"

"Embarrassing? Ratchet, if it means you're happy how is it embarrassing? I find it quite adorable," Clank smiled.

"That's exactly the reason why…" Ratchet said in frustration, "my reputation would be destroyed if that got out."

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody, I promise."

Ratchet thanked his friend gratefully, "you know it will happen to you as well, right?"

"Oh yeah…"


	10. Chapter 9

**This chapter was a little rushed so I apologise for any mistakes ^^'**

 **Chapter 9: Welcome Party**

* * *

It took approximately two hours to get to Fastoon, since the ship's engine had been unintentionally hit by the barrage of attacks. Ratchet and Clank were both excited and nervous of seeing the planet full of lombaxes, rather than ruins. As the ship landed in a more rural area of the planet, Ratchet began pacing back and forth in anticipation. The constant motion made Clank feel dizzy again.

"Ratchet, you know the planet's not going anywhere," the silver lombax tried getting his friend to stop moving. Ratchet grunted in response. He just _really_ wanted to see his home.

When the ramp lowered, Ratchet bolted off the spacecraft in a flash. Never in his life had he been so happy to be on his birth planet. The environment was so different compared to the desert ruins and now he could see the buildings for what they originally were. Clank was also rather impressed. It was around 6:30 PM when they arrived.

Although the planet was still partially desert, there were quite a few areas of trees and bushland that of which were probably all burned down during the battle in his reality. It was a shame, considering they made nice contrast with the dry dirt. The buildings were varied in size, however further away they were unbelievably tall, so Ratchet guessed they were on the outskirts of the city.

Many civilians had gathered around the enemy ship, looks of curiosity and worry on their faces. They must have been waiting for the report on the situation.

Clank ran down the ramp and stood beside Ratchet, "This is certainly not what I expected…" he said. Ratchet nodded in agreement.

"Alright, listen up everyone!" One of the armoured lombaxes yelled over the loud whispering, "The mission was a success! We have now obtained an enemy ship and will be proceeding to study it tomorrow after the meeting. Our patrol has also returned with news that no threat has been found within a large radius around our planet." Sounds of 'whew' and 'thank God' erupted from the crowd. Clank believed that this was a rare occurrence, which mean they were attacked quite often.

Kaden walked over to the two, "It seems as though the enemy has been silent for a while, so they must be preparing something big. I have to organise the meeting for tomorrow, so you can find an apartment in the meantime," he said handing over some sort of business card. It had his name and occupation as well as his signature.

"I have written on the back that I have given you permission to stay in an apartment for free, since you have no bolts at this current time. Give this to a receptionist and they will understand."

Kaden turned to leave as Ratchet pocketed the card, but before he could get very far, the gold lombax called out to him, "Wait! I need to talk to you about… stuff…!"

He questioningly raised an eyebrow, "Ok, but make it quick."

"Can we talk in the ship? It's kind of a private thing…"

Kaden nodded and lead Ratchet into the spacecraft's ship port. He then crossed his arms and awaited the younger's explanation.

"Alright… so, I've thought about it and I've decided to tell you who I really am. Now, it might come as a shock to you, but I assure you that I am telling you the truth," Ratchet saw the suspicion in the elder's eyes as he continued, "Clank and I… we're from some sort of alternate reality. We flew Aphelion into a dimensional breach by accident, and it took us here."

"A natural dimensional breach? That seems pretty farfetched, Ratchet. The only way a portal will open is when someone commands it, the Dimensionator proving that. Dimensions stay away from each other for a reason, otherwise whole universes will collapse."

Out of the blue, Clank ran into the ship and hid in a cupboard, "Don't mind me, I'm just going to hide in here…"

Ratchet rolled his eyes and continued the conversation, "So… that portal was put there? But by who?"

"The only one I can think of, is the enemy's leader. He stole the holo-plans for the Dimensionator a few weeks ago."

Ratchet thought hard about what Kaden said, "It must have been a trap, or maybe an accident? Why would the leader need a Dimensionator though?"

"There are a number of reasons why, but I just don't know which one," the lombax heard someone call his name, "I have to go set up the meeting now, but we can talk more about this later."

"Wait! One last thing," Ratchet took a deep breath, "I'm your alternate son."

Kaden stared dumbly at the younger lombax. When he regained himself, he shook his head in disbelief.

"No, I don't believe that! My son died seven years ago, there's no way…"

"Kaden… I'm from an alternate dimension, remember? Things are different over there then here. In my reality, Fastoon is a wasteland and I'm the last lombax in the universe."

Clank decided to poke his head out of the storage compartment to add to the conversation, "Seven years ago… isn't that when Drek tried to destroy Veld- oh…"

The elder lombax's ears lowered and he looked at the floor, "I thought it would be safer in Solana. I was wrong."

The silence in the room was deafening, until Ratchet spoke up, "I just wanted to let you know. Sorry if I brought back old memories…"

"No, it's not your fault. But, I just want to know, if you're the last lombax in your own dimension, how do you know I'm your father?"

Ratchet smiled, "Your buddy Alister Azimuth told me…" his expression turned solemn, "before he died to save the universe…"

Kaden looked surprised to say the least, "so, you're on your own? What about your grey friend?"

"Clank? Well, uhh… that's another story for another time."

Kaden glanced at the ground, "huh, so in both realities I failed as a father… I am sorry, Ratchet."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault that Tachyon killed you."

"Tachyon? I find that hard to believe."

Ratchet wanted to ask more, but he knew Kaden would be feeling down at the moment. Actually, he didn't expect this talk to go as smoothly as it did.

"Well, I better be off now. I appreciate you telling me this, Ratchet," Kaden said as he approached the ramp.

"Let's just keep this between the three of us for now," Ratchet replied gesturing to the occupied cupboard, "it's for the best."

"Understood. You two should check in to an apartment and buy some casual clothes. You look as if you're going to war in those." And with that, Kaden left the heroic duo.

Ratchet grinned. Never in his life had he thought he would meet his father. He was beginning to think that maybe flying through that dimensional rift was more of a blessing than a disaster after all. Then, the lombax realised something.

He walked over to the cupboard and knocked on the door, "Clank? What are you doing in there?"

"Hiding," was the reply.

"From what?"

He stuck his hand out and pointed to the outside, "them…"

Ratchet walked towards the ramp and looked around the corner to see the group of lombax citizens staring at the entrance of the ship.

"They're after me Ratchet… I don't know why, but they're trying to get me!" Clank continued.

"I don't get it," the gold lombax stated, "what did they do?"

"They were staring at me! With weird looks too!"

"They're probably just curious is all," Ratchet concluded.

"Curious? They don't have to stare!"

Ratchet shrugged, "Come on fuzzbrain, you can't hide in cupboards forever."

Clank reluctantly left his hiding spot, "I still don't want to go out there."

"Just stay with me, and everything will be fine."

The silver lombax nervously fiddled with his tail as Ratchet led him to the door. They were completely surrounded by lombaxes trying to peek inside. Luckily there were guards preventing them from approaching the spacecraft. Once he made it to the ramp, his silver fur stood on end as they all once again stared at him. This caused Clank to flinch backwards.

"They want to take me prisoner!"

"No, they don't Clank."

"Then, why have they formed an army?" he was confused.

"Come on, I won't let them get you," Ratchet reassured his friend before leaving the ship. Clank did as he was told and stayed by his side.

As they walked past, all eyes were on Clank. The grey one hid behind his friend while Ratchet glared back.

"I don't understand what the big deal is," Ratchet muttered.

A nearby guard approached them and explained, "You're friend here has grey fur."

"Yeah, so what?"

"No lombax has _grey_ fur. It's… unnatural."

Ratchet didn't notice until then that he was right. No lombax in the crowd was grey, in fact, the closest to the colour was white. Clank tried to hide his anger of being called 'unnatural'. Of course he wasn't normal! He used to be a robot for crying out loud! But, the others didn't know that, and he didn't think he wanted them to know either.

"Right, well, we should be going…" Ratchet replied as he took Clank's wrist and hurried through the crowd. He was furious now. He hated the stares they gave him for having different coloured fur. Sure, they don't see grey lombaxes, but that doesn't mean they have the right to stare!

Ratchet tried to calm himself as they went to find some casual clothes to wear.


	11. Chapter 10

**Hello again! I am having a little trouble with naming some of the lombaxes, so if you guys want a name to feature in this fic, just comment a name and it may appear :)**

 **Chapter 10: Somewhat Normal**

* * *

"Stupid furballs…" Ratchet growled as he searched the clothes in a nearby store. It was hard finding something that would actually fit, considering he was rather small for a 23 year old lombax. Clank had suggested looking through the youth section, as they would have a better chance of finding something there, but the gold lombax refused. He wouldn't be caught dead wearing kids clothes…

Clank remained quiet for a while, trying to think of ways he could 'blend in' with the others. He didn't like being classed as 'unnatural' even though he knew it was technically true, and he wanted to do something about it.

"White or green?" Ratchet interrupted his thoughts. He was holding up two different coloured shirts, a questioning expression on his face.

Clank shrugged, "You decide. I know nothing about this sort of stuff."

"I'll just get them both then," he concluded. As the gold lombax went to pay for the clothes, Clank walked to the door and waited impatiently. Now he knew why Ratchet hated clothes shopping… It was so boring…

Ratchet soon appeared beside him and put the bag of clothes in his inventory. The two then found themselves hastily walking to one of the most expensive hotels in the area.

"Wow, 250,000 bolts for a week… that's a little pricy."

"We basically have an unlimited supply," the gold lombax reasoned. He could always go out and smash crates if they needed to.

"I guess so…" Clank reluctantly agreed.

"Hang on a second!" Ratchet said as he searched his inventory for the card Kaden gave them. He found it and held it in front of his friend's face.

"Who needs to pay bolts when you know one of the most well-known lombax on the planet?" he grinned. Besides… they might as well make use of it.

"I hope you know what you're doing…" Clank sighed as he followed Ratchet to the reception desk.

The room was unnecessarily large and had barely anything to fill the space. Not to mention, it was very white and clean… Even the woman at the desk was clearly an 'upper class' citizen who was most likely rich. She appeared to be in her late 40's and held herself with formality.

Her blue eyes were focused on the holoscreen in front of her, completely ignoring the two lombaxes who had entered.

"Excuse me, miss? We would like to get a room for a week," Ratchet said.

The woman's eyes glanced at the two, "What makes you think you have the right to come here?" she hissed.

"Whoa, calm down lady!" Ratchet replied causing the white lombax to growl.

Clank quickly intervened before a fight broke out, "Pardon my friend here, but we don't understand. Why aren't we allowed here?"

"You're a couple of rebellious teens, that's why! This has happened before, when young ones believe they can turn up, distract me and take my earnings… I know your devilish schemes!"

Ratchet pulled out the card, "We're not thieves. Now, Kaden gave me this to give to you, to allow us to stay here."

She took the card, suspicion reflecting in her eyes. After confirming it was, in fact, Kaden's signature, she reluctantly gave them a room key.

"If I catch you stealing… you're out, got it?"

"Yeah… but one more thing… what number are we?"

She gave the gold lombax a glare, "don't be an idiot, it's on your key, clearly."

Ratchet scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "About that… I can't read lombax. Neither can him…"

"Oh, so you're lower than 3rd class… splendid…" she gave them a strained smile, "Urgh, it's floor 4, room 23. Now go away."

They both ignored her and entered the elevator. Well, that was certainly one of the worst first impressions.

"Tell me again why you chose somewhere this expensive?"

"Because we can afford it," Ratchet replied simply before adding, "and I want a room with a working Holovision…"

Clank sighed, "of course."

At first it was difficult to find the right room, but with some luck, they both managed. It was going to be really hard to navigate the city without knowing the lombax language, especially since they couldn't rely on Kaden for everything. Just the thought of getting lost was enough to trouble the silver lombax.

"Argh! I'm so tired!" Ratchet complained as he closed and locked the door.

Clank observed the apartment, "Well, today was definitely a strange and tiresome day…"

"Ya think?"

Ratchet took the bags of clothes out from his inventory and dropped them beside the couch. He couldn't be bothered to sort them out so he just left them for tomorrow.

"How are we supposed to live here if we can't understand lombax?" Clank asked his friend.

The gold one thought for a moment, "We could always get a translator. I could easily download one."

"I guess…"

Ratchet ruffled Clank's head fur who half-heartedly protested, "Don't worry, we'll be fine. Now come on, let's go to bed before our brains shrivel up and implode."

"What a wonderful image…"

The two were on their way to the bedroom when Clank felt something strange. It kind of felt as if something was yanking on his insides; although, it wasn't a painful feeling, just uncomfortable.

"R-Ratchet… I feel weird again," he complained.

"Ok, what this time?" the gold lombax drowsily glanced at his friend. Almost immediately, he knew what was wrong. The stance, fidgeting and clear uncomfortable look on his face all lead to the realisation that Clank needed to go… badly.

"Oh God… Alright, this is perfectly normal!" He reassured his friend, "Now, go in the bathroom and… How am I going to explain this..?"

The grey lombax did as he was told and ran into the bathroom. A few awkward moments later, Clank had successfully gone to the toilet. He was happy that he accomplished something new, even if it was stressful and awkward for both himself and Ratchet.

"Never mention this, got it?" the gold lombax said in a mildly threatening tone. Clank nodded vigorously and smiled sheepishly. Ratchet sighed and went to their room. Like the rest of the apartment, it was quite large, and had two oversized single beds on each side. The gold lombax practically fell onto one of the beds and purred. It was so much better then sleeping in a cave…

With slight irritation, Ratchet undressed out of the Hyperflux armour and put on one of the pairs of shorts he bought. He was so happy to get out of the armour…

Soon after, Clank entered the room wearing his own shorts, an odd sleepy grin on his face.

"I did something on my own!" he said happily, tail swinging from side to side in accomplishment.

"Ratchet looked up from where he was lying on his bed and grinned, "Good job pal! Now, let's go to sleep..."

The silver lombax got into his own bed and sighed. First time sleeping in a bed as a lombax… it was nice.

"Good night, Ratchet."

"'Night… Clank…"


	12. Chapter 11

**This chapter explains a lot of stuff, so I'm sorry if things get confusing or nonsensical. Just ask if something concerns you ^^ Enjoy this seriously long chapter :)**

 **Also, thank you to Jadzia Dax (guest) for suggesting some cool names! :) I'll be sure to use them. Since I already wrote this chapter when I posted the last one, the names will not appear in this chapter. However, someone named Percival is going to show up... *gasp*spoiler...**

 **Chapter 11: The Meeting**

* * *

"Couldn't I have slept in Just a little longer?" Ratchet complained as his grey friend led him down the sidewalk. Clank had woken up early and decided to wake up Ratchet as well, much to the other's displeasure. He just didn't feel safe exploring the city on his own, as he was still fearful of the other lombaxes.

"No, Ratchet. You sleep in every day and you really need to get out of that habit," he replied in a scolding tone.

"Give me a break… I save galaxies…" Ratchet mumbled under his breath. Sure, it's been a month since their last advkenture, but he still believed he deserved to do whatever he wanted.

"That's no excuse," the grey lombax said simply. Ratchet sighed and remained quiet. Even though he was excited about seeing more of the city, he still wished he could have that extra hour to stay in bed.

It wasn't long before they ran into Kaden who looked relieved when he saw them. The older lombax waved and greeted them both with a handshake.

"Good morning Ratchet and Clank, I see you are doing a little site seeing," he smiled.

"Yeah, we just started actually. This place is amazing…"

"And you were complaining I woke you up too early," Clank rolled his eyes in slight annoyance. The gold lombax shoved him and laughed sheepishly.

"Hang on, aren't you supposed to be at that meeting?"

"Yes. I am here because you two have been requested to attend the meeting," he said formally, "the others wish to talk to you about your encounter with the enemy. They believe they could learn something from you."

"That makes sense… but why would they trust us?" Ratchet asked uncertainly.

"We are definitely not on this planets data base, so wouldn't that make us suspicious?"

Kaden nodded, "you are correct in assuming they are weary of you, but I have told them otherwise."

Ratchet and Clank shared a glance before agreeing to join the meeting. Who knows… maybe they will find out more about this reality.

Kaden lead the duo through the city to a huge building. It was a skyscraper about 120 floors high and looked as if it had reinforced windows. It wasn't the tallest building, but still tall enough to make Ratchet and Clank gawk in amazement.

When they walked inside, Kaden was greeted by, what Ratchet assumed, was another member of the C.A.L.R. He was a pale yellow, almost cream, in colour with darker stripes on his ears and forehead. His eyes were a light blue and he wore a similar uniform to Kaden. They both spoke in native lombaxian, most likely about the meeting they were probably late for, before the newcomer noticed the duo and looked at them with a raised eyebrow.

"You said the stowaways were adults. They're just kids!" he said incredulously, gesturing to a growling Ratchet. The gold lombax was really tempted to throw his wrench…

"Dante, calm your fur. These two will explain themselves soon. Now, meet Ratchet and Clank. You two, this is Dante, my co-worker," Kaden clarified quickly. Before they could respond, the cream lombax interrupted them.

"Nice to meet you. Now hurry up! Percival's getting impatient again…" Dante said as he hurriedly walked to the closest elevator. The others followed, also eager to get started. However, something bothered Ratchet when Dante mentioned 'Percival'.

 _It couldn't be Tachyon… could it?_ The thought caused the lombax to cringe, he was hoping to never see that traitor again.

When the elevator reached level 82, the four exited the lift and found themselves in a meeting room with a group of lombaxes and… the cragmite that Ratchet had just been dreading to see.

"So, you finally found… What!" Tachyon screeched in surprise and anger. Immediately Ratchet took a battle stance and materialised his wrench, which probably wasn't a good idea. The whole room stood and pointed their guns towards him, obviously threatened by Ratchet's hostile actions.

Kaden sighed and easily took the wrench from Ratchet, sending him a glare. Said lombax crossed his arms in irritation. So what if Kaden was his father, no one takes his wrench and gets away with it. Although, he wasn't in any position to do anything about it.

"This was certainly unexpected…" Clank said, nervously fiddling with his tail.

"What is the meaning of this?! There are strict rules and regulations stating that-"

"Percival, what have we talked about?" Kaden cut the cragmite off. Ratchet could tell this sort of thing happened a lot, due to the look he was giving Tachyon. Perhaps this reality's Kaden didn't trust him as well.

Tachyon mumbled something incoherent that sounded lombaxian. By now, the rest of the room had holstered their weapons and took their seats again, much to Clank's relief.

"Good, let's begin with what we already know," Kaden commenced the meeting. He stood in front of a holo-screen with a presentation clicker in his hand. He waited for Ratchet, Clank and Dante to take their seats before continuing.

"It has been approximately seven years since the first attack and we still have no idea on who or what is behind this declaration of war. Fighting the enemy head on could only give us so much information, but even then we only found very little."

Ratchet gave his full attention to his father, not wanting to miss a single piece of information. It also helped that Clank was writing important stuff down.

"We know that the enemy has a leader, presumably male, whose whereabouts are currently unknown. This leader has been using our own forces against us by using some type of 'mind control' to build an army. We know this because lombaxes who are labelled as deceased in the system were 're-killed' on the battle field."

Clank couldn't tell what Ratchet was thinking, but the grey lombax had some sort of idea of what they were talking about. His mind travelled back to when Kumara, the niffrin, told them about the 'curse'. The enemy must somehow transmit energy signals that imitate brain waves, causing immense confusion and possible mind control…

"We still don't know how this phenomenon works, as all scientists of the C.A.L.R. who specialise in biological investigations cannot find anything in the minds of those 'revived' lombaxes. But we do know that whatever it is that does this, changes the way organics think and process information. But even so, that is just a reasonable hypothesis."

Clank smiled, at least _someone_ was smart enough to figure something out. Being stuck with Ratchet seemed to make him forget there are others with more intellect.

"We have also found that the enemy is attacking other planets, more specifically, Niffiria and Cobalia. Why they attack undeveloped planets is still unknown."

Ratchet began thinking of reasons that could explain this choice in planets. He was leaning more to the fact that they could have valuable resources that are exclusive to those planets. Maybe the enemy needed those resources.

"Recently, we have been sending lombaxes from the Praetorian Guard to seize ships that could hold dire information. This has proved to be an effective way to collect their plans and transmissions. So far I have been unable to decrypt them. They're using a highly sophisticated system that I have never seen before…"

Kaden then gestured to the two guests, "These lombaxes were the ones who were found in the ship we retrieved yesterday. We have reason to believe they were on Niffiria before we arrived on the ship. They're going to tell us what happened in case they found something new."

The duo hesitantly made their way to the front of the room. They weren't sure on what they should talk about, so Ratchet decided he would just tell them what he thought was important.

"Introduce yourselves first. They're still a little bit… uncertain of you," he whispered as they passed each other. Ratchet nodded in understanding and faced the crowd confidently, trying to hide his sudden fear. He'd done speeches before, but he didn't think standing in front of his own kind would be this scary. He dismissed the feeling, it was probably because no one knew him as a hero here.

"Alright! My name is Ratchet and this here is my best friend Clank. We come from the Solana Galaxy and we're both 23."

"You're from Solana? Would that have anything to do with how short you are?" Tachyon sneered cruelly.

"I would like to start by talking about how we got there," the gold lombax continued with a slight edge to his voice, "I was flying my ship, Aphelion, on my way to Axiom City to pick up a new upgrade for her, when suddenly a wormhole of some sort opened up right in front of us!"

He left out the fact that it was actually a dimensional breach that transported them to another reality. He didn't want them to know just yet. On the other hand, his nerves were gone and replaced with exaggerated boasting.

"It was too late to do anything so we ended up being sucked in and spat out on the other side of the galaxy, just above the atmosphere of Niffiria. The wormhole had drained Aphelion of all her power, so we had no way of escaping what was surely going to be our end…"

Clank sighed and looked at the other lombaxes in the room. To his surprise, most of them were enjoying his overly exaggerated story, while a few were just staring at him oddly, namely Tachyon.

"With my quick thinking, I jettisoned the excess cargo to decrease our weight and just managed to angle the ship into a more endurable position, before BANG! We made contact with the ground and slid a fare distance before ultimately stopping in a forest. Luckily, we weren't seriously hurt, but Aphelion was in shambles."

"Not wasting anytime, I activated a tracker in my ship before we both travelled in a random direction hoping for the best. After a day had passed, we found ourselves in an old bunker that the niffrins were using. We had eventually befriended them and they told us about random attacks against them."

Now the crowd was serious, paying attention to everything Ratchet said as if it was vital.

"I have reason to believe that the enemy leader is, in fact, a lombax. I got this impression when Kumara, a niffrin, told us her father spoke to the leader. I'm guessing that he was a lombax because she made no hints that another creature was behind the army. I'm pretty sure she would have said that it was strange that a race was being led by another creature. I'm not positive, but that's the impression I'm getting."

Dante rose his hand to his chin, "it makes sense in a way. But why would a lombax attack us for no reason?" Murmurs of agreement could be heard from the crowd.

"What if there is a reason? What if the leader has a grudge against us because of something that happened in the past?" Kaden added. They had never thought about it like that before. They always had thought a psycho was just doing this for fun.

"Ahem… I would like to speak now," Clank said nervously, "While we were talking to Miss Kumara, she mentioned a 'curse' that messes with one's brain. I assume this 'curse' is what forces lombaxes to attack you. But that you already know."

He turned to Ratchet and asked for the Medallion he was holding on to. The gold lombax nodded and took off the Medallion that was around his neck, but hidden under his shirt, and gave it to his friend. He had actually forgot he was wearing it until Clank brought it up.

"We were told that the gem situated in the centre of this Medallion protects the wearer from the 'curse' and neutralises it. I haven't been able to experiment with it yet but I'm assuming it works since the niffrins use it."

Ratchet felt his head begin to throb with pain from an incoming headache. It wasn't severe, but it was uncomfortable and caused him to have a hard time concentrating. Clank had noticed this when the gold lombax lifted his hand to his temple.

"Um, Ratchet? I think you should take this back now…" he said with worry and slight fear. Catching on to the tone in his voice, Ratchet began to piece together what was wrong.

"Th-thanks. Tell them the rest of what happened, I have to go to the bathroom…" he said albeit forcibly. Clank knew his friend had just figured it out, but he continued with the meeting, being sure no one thought of them as suspicious.

The crowd was confused of the sudden change in Ratchet's behaviour, but thought nothing of it as Clank continued.

"We were then notified that our ship was being stolen, so we quickly left to confront them. When we saw the number of lombaxes on board we waited for an opportunity to sneak inside. We had no other choice, since Aphelion was our only way off the planet, and it was actually quite easy to infiltrate."

"Once aboard, we heard some of the lombaxes talking to their leader about Aphelion. Now that I think about it…" his eyes widened, "I think I know where their leader is!"

Kaden stood up and ran to Clank in absolute shock, "Where! How do you know?!" he demanded.

"Th-the Breegus S-system…" he stuttered in slight fear, "they said they w-were returning there."

He heard the lombaxes around him talk amongst themselves at the new information. Clank didn't tell them exactly where he thought they were, since he didn't want to put this reality at risk. He wasn't sure, but he had a feeling he was right. He hadn't noticed before, but when he and Ratchet listened to the transmission on the enemy ship, the background looked a lot like the Clock. He would talk to ratchet later about the matter.

"This meeting is dismissed," Kaden said before leaving hurriedly. With all the new information, he had a lot of investigating and researching to do, especially on the Breegus System.

Clank watched the others leave the room as well, all except Tachyon, who looked back and glared at the silver lombax with utter distaste.

"I've got my eye on you and your stupid friend," he snarled threateningly before leaving along with the others.


	13. Chapter 12

**I'm back from the dead! Sorry this took so long...**

 **Chapter 12: Assumptions and an Old Vendetta**

* * *

Ratchet stared intently at the reflection of himself in the bathroom mirror, looking for any signs that he was under the influence of mind control. After assessing himself for the fifth time he sighed and held the Medallion in front of himself.

He knew exactly what Clank was implying when the grey lombax returned the item to him, and he was extremely worried. Was he really under this horrible 'curse'? There was only one way to find out, and he was unsure if he wanted to try it.

 _Nothing serious happened when Clank took it from me… I could just put it down for a second…_ he suggested to himself. The idea seemed safe enough, but the thought of mindlessly rampaging through the building and potentially inflicting harm on others made him hesitate.

Would it be wise to put the whole building in danger? More importantly, Clank could also get hurt and he didn't think he could handle knowing he hurt his best friend. Not to mention, everyone would most likely start shooting at him if he was a threat to the city.

He decided to refrain from experimenting since the negative effects outweighed the positives, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try later in a more secluded area.

Putting the Medallion back around his neck and under his shirt, Ratchet turned to leave the bathroom. As soon as he exited, he ran into none other than Tachyon: the last person he wanted to see.

The cragmite stared coldly into the gold lombax's eyes, as if he knew of their past quarrel. This made Ratchet feel uncomfortable, but he tried his hardest not to show it.

Tachyon suddenly grinned, not happily but smugly, and Ratchet was beginning to get unnerved by him.

"Ratchet was it? I am Percival Tachyon, assistant inventor of the Centre for Advanced Lombax Research. I would like to formally apologise about my behaviour earlier during the meeting," he said, spitting out the word 'lombax' with distaste.

"Um, thanks?" Ratchet wasn't sure of how to respond.

"Your friend is still in the meeting room, perhaps you should go and accompany him. You know, just in case he gets into trouble," he spoke with an edge to his tone, clearly wanting nothing to do with them both.

"I assure you that Clank is responsible enough to be on his own," he grinned back, noticing the cragmite's annoyance, "But I'm curious… why were you so hostile towards us? I mean, it's not like we've met before and have some horrible dark history…"

Tachyon's yellow eyes narrowed in what looked like suspicion and Ratchet pretended he didn't notice as he awaited for an answer.

"I was merely surprised that you and your friend were so short. You both look as if you're a couple of kids who went through puberty way too early."

"Oh really? Well at least I didn't permanently stop growing when I was five," the lombax heard Tachyon growl lowly at the insult. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to start a fight…

"It's a birth defect you insensitive creature! This is what happens when you're frozen for a substantial amount of time! Sort of like your friend who has the odd grey fur," he shot back in retaliation.

"Leave Clank out of this, Tachyon, he has nothing to do with this argument. But, for the record, he's way more good looking than you," he knew he should stop before something serious happens, however it wasn't his fault this started in the first place. Percival made the first move.

"I would be careful of what you say to me, lombax. I have ways of dealing with pests like yourself."

Now Ratchet was beginning to suspect there was something that the cragmite knew. He obviously hated his kind for a start, but he also looked at him as if they knew each other and that was beginning to worry him.

"The only pest I can see is standing right in front of me," he calmly but harshly retorted, "and I sincerely doubt you would stand a chance against me. In fact, if I had my wrench right now, I could easily hit you into this planet's orbit."

"Shut up you inferior rodent! Or I'll have to report you to the authorities!"

"For what? Stating the truth?" There was a moment of dead silence between them. Either Tachyon ran out of insults, or he was contemplating something.

"…I've hated you since the moment we met…" he said darkly before entering the elevator. The sentence perplexed him, as it was an odd thing to say after they literally just met, but he let it slide for now.

"Hopefully that disagreement won't bite me in the butt in the future…" Ratchet sighed as he entered the meeting room, finding Clank writing something down at the table.

"Hey pal, whatcha doing?" he casually asked.

The grey lombax looked up in surprise. He was so fixated on his hypothesis that he didn't even hear his friend walk in!

"S-sorry Ratchet. I was just writing down some theories that may help with this horrible fiasco," he apologised sincerely.

"You don't need to say sorry, Clank," he smiled back, "do your theories contain overly complicated words and meanings?"

"What I wrote down is too complex for your mind to comprehend, but I can simplify it for you if you like."

"Ok, cool. How about we do something productive while you explain?" the gold lombax suggested. Anything to get that angry cragmite out of his head was good enough.

"What would you like to do?" Clank asked as he stood and picked up his equipment. It was nothing much, just a notepad and pen.

"Hmm…" he looked around the room and spotted his wrench leaning against a wall and walking over to retrieve it, "I could teach you how to defend yourself. You wanted me to show you how to use the different weapons I have right?"

Clank immediately smiled, his tail wildly swaying from side to side in excitement. Of course he had used a gun before, but nothing as sophisticated as the weapons Ratchet used on an almost daily basis. Plus, learning how to use various gadgets could come in so much handy. Oh who was he kidding? He just wanted to blow something up!

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" the overenthusiastic silver lombax cheered, dragging Ratchet out the door and into the lift. Once inside, Ratchet reclaimed his wrist and playfully gave Clank a shove. They both then started laughing for no reason.

Ratchet had to admit, Clank was a lot more expressive as a lombax. He knew his friend had emotions and sentience when he was a robot, but something about lombax Clank was different. He was still incredibly smart and logical, nothing there had changed; however, the way he expressed himself was far more varied and noticeable.

He shook his head, of course his friend couldn't convey his emotions properly as a robot; it was just common sense! But… Even so, he just knew when he was sad, annoyed, angered or happy. Perhaps he was starting to prefer his friend as an organic…

 _That's ridiculous!_

"Ratchet? Are you ok?" Clank brought him back to reality.

"Uh, yeah I'm fine. Just thinking about my earlier encounter with Tachyon," he surprisingly lied with ease. It was a good cover, especially since he was meaning to tell him about the cragmite anyway.

"He spoke to you as well?"

"More like, argued. I have a feeling he knows something we don't," Ratchet grunted in irritation.

"I agree. Before he left the room, he warned me that he would be watching us. It would be illogical to say something like that without reason. Knowing Tachyon, he probably has connections across the city, lombax or not."

The gold lombax hoped they were making a big deal out of nothing. The thought of facing the cragmite again wasn't a pleasant one. Either way, they shouldn't just let the matter go in case he was a threat.

"Then we should keep an eye on him since he could be hiding his true agenda. Oh! I just remembered, another odd thing he said was 'I've hated you since the day we met'. Any clue on what he would be referring to?"

"Well, there are two considered possibilities. One is that he could be the Tachyon from our own dimension and was transported here when he fell during our battle. It's not implausible, but is still a very farfetched principle. The second is that Tachyon has met the 'us' from this reality and has a personal hatred of 'us'"

The gold lombax nodded as they left the elevator. He knew the basic gist of what Clank was talking about, he just didn't want to believe it.

"On the contrary, he could just be hostile to everyone he meets and has no involvement in anything whatsoever," Clank concluded the conversation, "So, where are we going?"

To be honest, Ratchet was glad for the sudden change in topic to something more casual. All that bad guy talk was beginning to make him paranoid.

"Let's head to the city border, it's probably the most unoccupied place," he replied, wondering if there were any civilisations outside this one. Mind you, it was an incredibly huge city.

During their long walk to their destination, Clank observed the other citizens walking by. They still gave him odd looks, some unfriendlier than others, but he wasn't paying attention to them at the moment.

He was more concerned with the fact that everyone looked genuinely scared, as if someone was going to just jump out and attack them. All the previous attacks must have changed the way they think, causing them to believe they were never safe and constantly under threat. It was sad. No one should have to live like that.

It was only then he realised just how much shorter they were to the other lombaxes. Sure, they all varied in height, but even then they were taller by at least a foot. No wonder everyone thought they were kids. Clank didn't mind the height difference that much, but his friend would probably feel out of place in a crowd.

The walk wasn't really eventful, just an ordinary stroll through the city. Clank almost wanted something to attack, to add more fun to their time here. Oh God… now he was beginning to sound like Ratchet. Maybe lombaxes were all similar with their thoughts? He didn't know, and he didn't really care either since they had just arrived at a potential destination for practicing with weaponry.

It was an old scrap metal yard, full of outdated ship models and other interesting contraptions that the two had never seen before. With the amount of metal lying around, Ratchet found it to be a perfect place as they were hidden from view of the public and had plenty of materials to shoot at… without explosions.

"Alright pal!" Ratchet exclaimed as he materialised his combuster, "Let's see how good your aim is, shall we?" The silver lombax, who was studying some complex machine he had found, immediately turned his attention to his friend.

After Ratchet had given the 'mildly dangerous' gun to Clank, he walked a fare distance away and positioned a large piece of metal on one of the piles of scrap. When he thought the metal qualified as a makeshift target, he ran back to his friend and stood beside him.

"Now, as you know, the combuster is one of the more 'friendly' weapons, making it perfect for target practice. All you have to do, is aim for the centre of that piece of metal," the gold lombax explained, "aim is the first step to learn, and the most important. If you can't aim, then it's useless in trying to learn."

Clank nodded, his expression serious as he listened to the instructions given. He wanted to show Ratchet that he was capable of helping in dangerous situations. He wanted to prove to himself that he wasn't useless.

"Another thing! Different weapons have different recoil effects. The combuster is a weaker weapon so you don't really have to worry about it. But when you get to the Negotiator and Alpha Cannon… well, you can guess."

Clank held the weapon as he had seen Ratchet do so many times before and stared down the target with full concentration. Even Ratchet was surprised of the amount of focus the silver lombax was using. When he first learned, he just shot everything he saw! Which probably wasn't the best way of learning…

Ratchet was pulled from his thoughts when the sound of a bang tore through the silence. Clank had shot his first weapon…


	14. Chapter 13

**Hello again! I come to bring you a new chapter of Dimensional Rift! I also have some exciting news regarding this story!**

 **1\. It has a new cover image drawn by yours truly XD Didn't see it yet? It's on my DeviantArt account 'LegendaryGriffin'. I can't put links unfortunately.**

 **2\. Not only does this story have a cover, but it will also be getting its very own comic! Page 1 is already done and page 2 is in progress ^^ There's a ink in the description of the cover page that will take you there :D**

 **3\. I've mapped out this whole story! And i have found that it will reach at least 30 chapters! I've also taken note that this is my longest story ever! Reaching 58 pages on Word!**

 **Thank you all for your support! If it weren't for you and airbax i wouldn't carry on with this. I have a very short attention span regarding writing, but since i know there are others who enjoy my writing, I don't think i will ever stop!**

 **Seriously guys (and gals) THANK YOU SO MUCH!**

 **And now, on with the story ^^**

 **Chapter 13: Unexpected Reality**

* * *

The grey lombax opened his eyes, eager to see if he succeeded in hitting the target. After a few moments of processing his accomplishment, Clank smiled and threw his arms up in the air in triumph.

"I hit it!" he exclaimed, sheer happiness practically glowing from the lombax. The action made Ratchet smile himself. He had no idea Clank was going to be so incredibly excited at firing a weapon, and he definitely didn't expect him to hit so close to the centre of the target either.

"Did you see that Ratchet? I hit it first try!"

The gold lombax ruffled his friend's head fur, much to the others distaste, however that didn't stop Clank from grinning like an idiot.

"Nice shot pal! I honestly didn't think your hand and eye coordination would be that good, considering the transformation. Maybe this won't take as long as I originally thought," Ratchet replied.

Clank, satisfied with his friend's response, held the gun back up to the target, shooting four more times. Each plasma shot hit the target in the centre or slightly off. Perhaps his calculating mind was able to judge the trajectory and distance so easily because he was able to recall that specific data that was stored in his robotic memory banks… Interesting…

Having proven that he could aim accurately, Ratchet decided to move on to the next stage in training.

"Now it's time to try something a little harder," he declared, materialising the good old fusion grenade glove, "I'm going to throw a few grenades into the sky and it's your job to shoot them before they come into contact with the ground."

"Umm… I don't think that's a good idea… A version ten fusion bomb may be a little over the top Ratchet," Clank said, slightly hesitant on the idea.

Ratchet rolled his eyes, "Clank, no one will hear us or see us so… does it really matter? Besides, it's not like I'm going to blow us up or anything."

"…So you say…"

"Alright, are you ready?"

"No…"

"Let's see what you can do!" And with that, the gold lombax threw a grenade upwards, being sure it was as far away from them as possible. Meanwhile, Clank watched the explosive carefully, evaluating where the object would descend and how fast. After determining where and when he was going to shoot, he fired.

The explosion that followed created a small shockwave, not strong enough to push them both back, but enough cause a mini gush of wind. Clank looked over at a surprised Ratchet who looked as though he had seen a ghost.

"Huh… that was… also unexpected…" he admitted slowly, unsure if his friend's performance was fake or not. After 20 minutes of using the Combuster, Ratchet decided to give Clank a different weapon.

"Well! Let's move on to something different this time."

"Already?" Clank didn't think he was experienced enough to move on to something else, however, he wasn't complaining.

"Yeah, since you seem to know how to aim and shoot properly, I believe you should begin to get familiar with different types of weapons and how they behave. Why don't you try… a rocket launcher!" He said, handing over the Negotiator.

Clank hesitantly took the weapon, worried that he might cause harm to someone. It was normal for himself to make sure no one got injured, but he also had a strange craving to just shoot and not give a damn. He shook his head. That was his inner lombax talking… but he _was_ a lombax now so maybe…

Clank decided to listen to his instincts rather than his logical side. If he was going to get used to his new form, he had to start by letting go of his old life, which meant starting anew. With that thought, he wiped the worry off his face and replaced it with determination and purpose. He wanted to be able to fend for himself, to be able to defend Ratchet if he was in trouble, and most importantly, he didn't want to be a burden on their adventures.

Ratchet noticed Clank was having some sort of inner battle, but he didn't say anything about it. He scanned the area for a bigger target, grinning when he spotted an old delivery ship.

"Hey Clank, wanna blow up something?" he asked giving his friend a smirk.

Clank followed his gaze to the old machine and positioned himself to face in the direction of the target. His movement meant that Ratchet was now standing behind him.

"Now remember, the Negotiator has been upgraded to three rockets per shoot, which means the recoil is…" he was unable to finish as Clank had pulled the trigger. Just as Ratchet was about to say, the recoil was far stronger with three rockets instead of one, causing the silver lombax to be pushed back into Ratchet. The unsuspecting lombax yelped in surprise as he was basically thrown into the ground. Luckily, Clank dropped the Negotiator before the fall, otherwise it would have been a lot more painful.

Clank sure was surprised of the amount of force required to shoot the three rockets. He knew the recoil would've been strong, but not _that_ strong! And now, because of his anticipation and stupidity, he was lying on top of Ratchet who was undoubtedly going to feel that in the morning. But instead of getting angry, he started _laughing._

Ratchet couldn't help it, he found the whole ordeal extremely ridiculous. His laughter must have been contagious, since the grey lombax also couldn't stop himself from giggling uncontrollably. It was then he realised they had spent three hours, from when they left the meeting, training. It was midday!

"Heheh, well…" Ratchet began, "It seems we lost track of time." Clank nodded, smile fading as he was lost in thought.

The grey lombax's mind had somehow travelled back to the meeting. He had been so focused on learning how to use Ratchet's weapons that he forgot to explain what his theories were. That was the whole point of coming down here in the first place. The fact was, most of what he was going to say was more so 'bad' news then good. Ratchet must have picked up on Clank's change of behaviour, since he went from happy to solemn in mere seconds.

"Hey pal? You went all quiet all of a sudden… Something wrong?" the gold lombax asked in slight worry.

"Well… I've discovered a few… inconvenient complications," he paused to grab his notebook from his front pocket, "I'm not sure if you know but… I have reason to believe you're-"

"'Cursed'?"

"…Yeah…"

The two remained quiet for a moment until Clank sat up and gave his notebook to his friend. Ratchet hesitantly took it and tried decoding the symbols and pictures into something that made sense, all the while his friend explaining.

"I still need to do some research and tests, but we already know that whatever's messing with your brain has to be trying to control you. Kaden says they fight lombaxes who were from their military, which means whatever's controlling them has to capture them alive."

"That's nice… but how does that explain the niffrins going crazy?" Ratchet asked, perplexed that they were suffering differently.

Clank looked down, "I'm not sure…" All this 'not knowing' was extremely frustrating, especially since Ratchet could be in potential danger.

Ratchet, feeling the other's distress, put his arm around Clank's shoulders in an attempt to comfort him. The grey lombax responded by leaned his head on his friend's chest and hugging him tightly, as if at any moment his best friend would turn and run. He tried not to cry. He tried so hard… but he couldn't help it. The sheer thought of Ratchet going insane or being controlled frightened him to no end. He couldn't help but let his tears flow freely.

"Hey… we'll figure something out," he heard Ratchet's soft voice whisper to him as he slowly pet his head. Clank wasn't sure about that, but he eventually calmed down from the soothing motion of Ratchet's petting.

"There's also s-something else," Clank finally spoke, albeit a bit hesitantly, "…I don't think there is any way we can return home. Not without some form of interdimensional traveling device."

"Then all we have to do is find one!" Ratchet exclaimed suddenly, startling the grey lombax slightly.

"B-but how…"

"Remember what Kaden said? He said that the enemy now has it, which means all we have to do, is find him and take him down. It's a win-win situation! We get the Dimensionator and also save this universe in the process!" he stood up, holding his hand out to Clank to help him up.

"But, Ratchet, Our odds are against us by a mile! We have no idea where this guy is, he has a whole _army_ of innocent lombaxes and we can't just _steal_ a device and use it to get back to a different reality! Who knows what will happen!"

Ratchet thought about what Clank said, and he agreed. But, that wouldn't stop him from trying!

"Look, Clank, if this is our only chance to get back, what other choice do we have?" the gold lombax replied with a hint of sorrow in his voice. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to go back. Everything in this reality seemed… better.

 _This is how life was supposed to be… Without a crazed lunatic trying to turn everyone into mindless zombies, of course._

Clank sighed in defeat, "I know…"

"Hey, don't worry pal! Nothing has taken me down yet!"

"…" Ratchet didn't realise his friend's ears droop slightly.

"Oh yeah! And one last thing for your training today," Ratchet grinned while Clank gave him a confused look.

"When all else fails… use a Groovitron!"

* * *

 **Poor Clank... He still remembers what happened on the Great Clock (How could he forget?). Clank gets so cute when he's upset X3**

 **Thank you all for reading! And tell me what you think of the cover!**


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